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On 17 February 2017, the European Commission issued a decision on the temporary suspension of the retransmission of a television channel in Lithuania. On 16 November 2016 the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission adopted a decision pursuant to the Law on Provision of Information to the Public, which suspended for three months the retransmission, including on the Internet, of the Russian TV channel “RTR Planeta.” The decision entered into force on 21 November 2016 after the settlement with the Swedish authorities as the transmitting member state and broadcaster was not reached. This is not...

The decision in Rolf Anders Daniel Pihl v. Sweden deals with a complaint about an alleged breach of the applicant’s right to privacy and reputation under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), because the Swedish authorities had refused to hold the operator of a website liable for a defamatory blog post and an anonymous online comment. Again, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) applies a crucial distinction between illegal hate speech and defamation, limiting the liability of the operator of the blog when it (only) concerns defamation, and not incitement to violence....

On 9 January 2017, the Swedish District Court of Värmland sentenced the athletics coach, lecturer and former CEO of the Swedish National Cross Country Skiing Team, Ulf Karlsson, to fines amounting to a total of SEK 24,000 for gross slander of the footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović. Mr Karlsson had been charged with making statements during a debate on doping in team sports in which he claimed that Mr Ibrahimović had used doping during his time as a player in Juventus FC. The case against Mr Karlsson included two separate charges: according to Mr Ibrahimović, Mr Karlsson had slandered him both during...

On 21 December 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered a judgment in joined cases Tele2 Sverige AB v. Post-och telestyrelsen and Secretary of State for the Home Department v. Tom Watson and Others (Cases C-203/15 and C-698/15). This judgment concerns the interpretation of Article 15(1) of the e-Privacy Directive (2002/58/EC) (see IRIS 2002-7/10) in light of Articles 7 (respect for private life) and 8 (protection of personal data) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter). The judgment addresses two requests for a preliminary ruling from the...

In a dispute between the rights holder association Copyswede and operator Telia (also an importer of mobile phones) the Swedish Supreme Court has determined whether iPhones should be subject to a copyright levy according to the Copyright Act. The Act prescribes that technical devices that are “especially designated” for private copying are levied. The Supreme Court established that a technical device that to a high extent is suitable for private copying, and that in practice can also be expected to be used for such private copying, to an extent which is not extraneous/unessential, should be considered...