Czech Republic Update: New dimension of liability of file sharing services providers (case Hellspy)

Recently, the Czech Supreme Court rendered a very interesting decision (file no. 23 Cdo 2793/2020-409, issued on August 31, 2021), which concerned possible liability of the providers of file-sharing services from the perspective of unfair competition.

The Supreme Court came to the conclusion that in case the provider of the respective file-sharing service rewards the users who upload and share data based on the number and/or size of downloads of these documents and files, such behaviour may constitute unfair competition. This conclusion shall apply in case the provider of the file-sharing service has not adopted adequate measures to verify the authorization of the users to publish the respective data files despite the fact that the technical parameters of the provided file-sharing service objectively allow its users to threaten and/or violate intellectual property rights in a level which is not insignificant. 

It could be summed up that even though the providers of the file-sharing services are not in general liable for the published content, this does not mean their activities cannot constitute unfair competition in case they benefit from the (unlawful) actions of their users.  The law provides a variety of protective measures which can be used against such conduct. 

By Konečná & Zacha law firm, Czech Republic, a Transatlantic Law International Affiliated Firm.  

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