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On 8 October 2009, the European Commission decided to close an infringement procedure against Germany relating to European “must-carry” provisions, as set out in the Universal Services Directive. The Directive forms part of the EU’s Telecoms Package, which is currently under revision. Under the Directive, Member States are obliged to ensure a minimum level of availability and affordability of basic services, as well as a basic set of rights for the benefit of European consumers. According to Article 31, proportionate and transparent “must-carry” rules can be set for clearly defined general interest...

The Dutch district court of Utrecht has ruled against the popular torrent website Mininova, in a case brought by anti-piracy organisation BREIN. The court concluded that Mininova had acted unlawfully by structurally providing the means for, encouraging and profiting from infringements of copyright and related rights and, moreover, that it is not protected under the hosting safe harbour of the E-Commerce Directive. Mininova was not held liable for direct copyright infringement. The website has been ordered to remove all torrents for protected works within 3 months and is considering an appeal. The...

On 30 July 2009, the Amsterdam District Court sentenced The Pirate Bay by means of a default judgment to make its websites inaccessible to Internet users in the Netherlands, because The Pirate Bay was found to infringe the intellectual property rights of Dutch rightsholders, represented by the Bescherming Rechten Entertainment Industrie Nederland ((Protection Rights Entertainment Industry Netherlands - BREIN). The Pirate Bay is a website registered in Sweden on which BitTorrents are provided. These torrents enable the exchange of files between computers that are connected to the Internet and which...

The trade organisation Vecai (now renamed NLkabel) represents five cable operators. Vecai et al. were called upon to defend themselves against legal claims by the collecting societies Norma and Irda. Norma and Irda represent performing artists in the sense of the Wet op de naburige Rechten (Related Rights Act - WNR): Norma and Irda are allowed to represent their performers in their right to authorise the unaltered and unabridged re-broadcasting by a cable broadcasting installation of a performance or phonogram or a reproduction thereof. Their claim is that the cable operators are re-broadcasting...

On 10 February 2009, the European Commission (EC) cleared the proposal on broadcasting market regulation by the Dutch regulator Onafhankelijke Post en Telecommunicatie Autoriteit (OPTA). As a result, OPTA can now impose several regulatory obligations on the four largest cable operators in the Netherlands, Ziggo, UPC, Delta and CAIW, who currently hold dominant positions in Dutch broadcasting markets. First of all, in order to enhance competition, UPC and Ziggo are now obliged to resell their analogue cable network based on regulated prices to other market parties. This will enable these parties...