EN Official Journal of the European Union C 165/4

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 19 April 2012 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Högsta domstolen — Sweden) — Bonnier Audio AB, Earbooks AB, Norstedts Förlagsgrupp AB, Piratförlaget AB, Storyside AB v Perfect Communication Sweden AB

(Case C-461/10) (1)

(Copyright and related rights - Processing of data by internet - Infringement of an exclusive right - Audio books made available via an FTP server via internet by an IP address supplied by an internet service provider - Injunction issued against the internet service provider ordering it to provide the name and address of the user of the IP address)

2012/C 165/07

Language of the case: Swedish

Referring court

Högsta domstolen

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Bonnier Audio AB, Earbooks AB, Norstedts Förlagsgrupp AB, Piratförlaget AB, Storyside AB

Defendant: Perfect Communication Sweden AB

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Högsta domstolen — Interpretation of Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks and amending Directive 2002/58/EC (OJ 2006 L 105, p. 54) and Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (OJ 2004 L 157, p. 45) — Intellectual property — Exclusive right held by publishing companies to make audio books available to the public — Alleged infringement of that right in that those audio books were made accessible via an FTP (File transfer protocol) server, an internet file-sharing program — Order that the internet service provider which provides the internet link to the server by allocating it an IP address supply to the copyright owner information regarding the names and addresses of persons registered as users of that IP address during a given period

Operative part of the judgment

Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks and amending Directive 2002/58/EC must be interpreted as not precluding the application of national legislation based on Article 8 of Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights which, in order to identify an internet subscriber or user, permits an internet service provider in civil proceedings to be ordered to give a copyright holder or its representative information on the subscriber to whom the internet service provider provided an IP address which was allegedly used in an infringement, since that legislation does not fall within the material scope of Directive 2006/24;

It is irrelevant to the main proceedings that the Member State concerned has not yet transposed Directive 2006/24, despite the period for doing so having expired;

Directives 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) and 2004/48 must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation such as that at issue in the main proceedings insofar as that legislation enables the national court seised of an application for an order for disclosure of personal data, made by a person who is entitled to act, to weigh the conflicting interests involved, on the basis of the facts of each case and taking due account of the requirements of the principle of proportionality.

(1) OJ C 317, 20.11.2010.