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A proposal to amend the Broadcasting Act with provisions intended to grant the Media Authority a more independent role in the broadcasting area was sent to Stortinget (the Norwegian Parliament) on 22 October 2010. The proposal includes the establishment of an independent complaints board with a mandate to handle complaints on decisions made by the authority. The Media Authority is an administrative body placed under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and is responsible for handling cases relating to the Broadcasting Act, the Media Ownership Act and the Act on Film and Videograms. The Authority is...

On 25 August the Ministry of Cultural Affairs circulated for public consultation a report assessing whether the current activities on the new media platforms of Norsk rikskringkasting AS (Norwegian public service broadcaster - NRK) qualify as public service. The examination, carried out by the Norwegian Media Authority has been undertaken as a preparatory step towards a new ex ante regime requiring a public value test for any significant new service NRK wants to launch (see IRIS 2010-1: 1/126). The main conclusion in the report is that most of NRKs existing services are in compliance with the public...

The Supreme Court has decided that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) may be obliged to reveal the identity (name and home address) of an Internet subscriber engaging in illegal file-sharing to the rightsholder intending to pursue relief. In a landmark ruling delivered on 18 June 2010, the Supreme Court found that a statutory duty of confidentiality may be repealed when there is a copyright infringement of a certain gravity. A customer of the Internet Service Provider Altibox had engaged in illegal file-sharing by uploading different Norwegian blockbusters, such as Max Manus and Kautokeino-opprøret,...

Effective as of 1 January 2010, Norway has introduced new “Regulations on Support for Audiovisual Productions”. Since Norway has no film act, the legal bases of the Regulations are the annual budget decisions made by Parliament. Support may be sought under the Regulations for the development and production of single feature films or slates of features, (single) feature minority co-productions, short films, single television documentaries and series and television drama series. Interactive productions may be supported at the development stage, while feature films and interactive productions may...

In November last year a Norwegian District Court ruled that there were no grounds for ordering Telenor, a Norwegian Internet Service Provider, to block internet access to the peer-to-peer search engine The Pirate Bay (see IRIS 2010-1: 1/33). The music and film industry, which had filed the petition for a preliminary injunction, appealed against the decision. The Court of Appeal delivered its decision on 10 February 2010, yet again in favour of Telenor. The Court of Appeal upheld the ruling according to which Telenor does not unlawfully contribute to the infringement of copyright by providing access...