Christina Angelopoulos is a post-doc researcher at the Information Law and Policy Centre of the University of London. She wrote her PhD on intermediary liability in copyright at the Institute for Information Law (IViR) of the University of Amsterdam. In the following piece, she analyses the Opinion of the Advocate General Szpunar recently handed down in Mc Fadden. The post was originally published on the Kluwer Copyright Blog.
On 16 March 2016 the CJEU’s Advocate General Szpunar handed down his Opinion in case C-484/14, Mc Fadden. The case concerns the liability of Tobias Mc Fadden, the owner of a business selling lighting and sound systems in Munich. Mr Mc Fadden operates a Wi-Fi hotspot on the business’ premises, deliberately left unprotected by a password, so as to enable free public access to the internet. In September 2010, that internet connection was used for the unlawful download of a musical work by one of the network’s anonymous users. The owner of the relevant copyright, Sony Music, decided to bring an action against Mc Fadden, seeking both damages and an injunction. [To continue reading the rest of the post on the Kluwer Copyright Blog, click here.]