Irish Judge Permits '3 Strikes' Rule

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

20 April 2010

An Irish judge has ruled that an internet service provider did not break the law by using a 'three strikes' policy against users who share copyrighted material over their internet connections.

The High Court in Dublin rejected a complaint by the country's Data Protection Commissioner that an agreement between Eircom and the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) to send warnings to those whose IP addresses have been associated with illegal file sharing breached individuals' privacy.

“Copyright is a universal entitlement to be identified with and to sell, and therefore to enjoy, the fruits of creative work," said Mr Justice Peter Charleton. "It applies to everyone who manages to produce anything copyrightable from a song, to a telephone directory, to a symphony, to a film. Were copyright not to exist, then the efforts of an artist could be both stolen and passed off as the talent of another.”

"The right to be identified with and to reasonably exploit one's own original creative endeavour I regard as a human right," Charleton's judgment added. "It is completely within the legitimate standing of Eircom to act, and to be seen to act, as a body which upholds the law and Constitution. That is what the Court expects of both individuals and companies."

This highly controversial decision is likely to have been well-received by the music industry around the world as well as in Ireland.

In response to the judgment, IRMA has confirmed that, along with Eircom, it will now proceed with its "graduated response" to illegal file sharing which was agreed in February 2009.

"The decision vindicates IRMA's position that an IP address refers solely to the network address of a computer and is not personal data when in IRMA's possession," IRMA said.

According to IRMA, the graduated response programme now proceeds to the "educational and awareness campaign."

The graduated response programme allows for three notifications before a user is disconnected from the internet for sharing copyrighted files.

Speaking after the decision, Dick Doyle, Director General of IRMA said that "we are very pleased with this decision. Resolving this issue has caused 6 months of disruption to the IRMA/Eircom agreement. We will now proceed immediately to implement the full agreement."

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