Internet users with unsecured Wi-Fi should not be liable if others use their connection to illicitly download copyright material.
County court judge Colin Birss made the ruling as he dismissed an attempt by law firm ACS Law to win judgements eight alleged file sharers without a court trial.
ACS Law has become notorious for taking action against people it accuses of illicit file sharing, with often scant or no evidence.
The law firm claimed that the defendants had, ‘operated, at the time of the identified infringement an internet connection router that was not secured either adequately or at all, so as to enable another to carry out an act of copyright infringement…via the internet connection of the defendant.’
But Judge Birss rejected the claim.
‘The plea that “allowing” others to infringe is itself an act restricted by…the 1988 [Copyright] Act is simply wrong,” he said in his ruling.
Although Judge Birss’s decision could be overturned by a higher court and is not necessarily binding in future cases, it is the first time that legal doubt has been cast on attempts to prosecute file sharers based solely on evidence of file sharing at a particular IP address.
