Copyright disclosure claim does not include email address

With the assistance of the Court of Justice of the European Union (EuGH), the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has answered the question of whether a copyright disclosure claim regarding "name and address" also includes disclosure of the email address of infringers.

A film exploitation company (Constantin Film AG) took action against YouTube. Several users had uploaded Constantin feature films to YouTube, which had been accessed thousands of times.

When videos are uploaded to the internet platform YouTube, users must first register with a Google user account on YouTube and provide a name, email address and date of birth. In order to publish videos of more than 15 minutes in length on the platform, a mobile telephone number must also be provided.

Following notice of the infringements, Constantin demanded disclosure from YouTube of

• Email address
• Telephone number
• IP address used for uploading the file, together with the exact time of upload
• IP address last used to access the Google/YouTube user account, together with the exact time of access

The Regional Court (LG) Frankfurt a. M. dismissed the action for disclosure of the said data. On Constantin's appeal, the Court of Appeal (OLG) Frankfurt a. M. ordered disclosure of the respective email addresses of the users and admitted the appeal to the Federal Court of Justice (BGH).

Copyright disclosure claim occupied the Court of Justice of the European Union (EuGH)

The BGH initially referred the questions concerning the concrete scope of the disclosure claim to the EuGH for decision, as this involved the interpretation of Union law (Directive 2004/48/EG of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights).

The EuGH answered the question posed by the BGH to the effect that the term "addresses" mentioned in the Directivedoes not relate to the email address and telephone number, nor to the IP address used for uploading these files or the IP address used when last accessing the user account.

Copyright disclosure claim: BGH sets limits

The BGH also (Judgment of 10.12.2020, case number I ZR 153/17) came to the conclusion that the required disclosure under copyright law does not include the email addresses of the service users. Disclosure of telephone numbers and IP addresses of the service users is also not required, according to the highest judges.

The disclosure claim regarding "name and address" anchored in the German Copyright Act does not include disclosure of the email addresses of the service users. It also does not include disclosure of the telephone numbers, the IP addresses used for uploading the infringing files, or the IP addresses of the YouTube users last used to access the user account.

The term "address" within the meaning of the Copyright Act corresponds to the term "addresses" in Directive 2004/48/EG, according to the BGH. There is no indication that the German legislator intended to go beyond the regulation in Directive 2004/48/EG in determining the scope of disclosure under the national provisions.

The legislator made clear that "address" within the meaning of the Copyright Act is to be understood in the sense of the regulation in Directive 2004/48/EG. Accordingly, the assessment of whether an email address is an "address" is left to the EuGH, which does not regard the email address as an "address".

Conclusion

A copyright disclosure claim regarding "name and address" does not include disclosure of the email address of infringers. Furthermore, disclosure of the telephone number or the IP address used for uploading the infringing files, or the IP address last used to access the service, is also not required.