A ruling came out of Germany that could make registrars have to do a lot more work to earn their pay. Loek Essers wrote an article today on PC Advisor covering the case of Universal Music vs Key-Systems.
A domain name registrar can be held liable for the copyright infringements of a website it registered if it is obvious the domain is used for infringements and the registrar does nothing to prevent it, the Regional Court of Saarbrücken in Germany has ruled.
Universal had wanted to prevent unauthorized distribution of Robin Thicke’s album Blurred Lines, said Volker Greimann, Key-Systems’ general counsel, in an email.While Key-Systems argued that it was not responsible for the copyright infringement, the court ruled that the registrar had a duty to investigate after notification of infringing activity and had to take corrective action in case of obvious violations, Greimann said.
If someone notifies the registrar of a clear violation of the law, it must examine the specific allegation immediately and close the domain if necessary, the court ruled.
If Key-Systems ignores this ruling it faces a maximum fine of €250,000 (US$339,000).
This ruling will certainly open the door to more companies going after registrars to take down and police content or lose a lot of money. In the article counsel for Key Systems said that if the ruling is not over turned this could lead possibly to the whole business model being endangered.
Read the full story on PC Advisor
This is beyond insane! Surely the members of the judiciary responsible for this decision can be removed on the grounds of mental incompetence?