News

The Supreme Court of Denmark reaches decision in the "Popcorn Time" case

Intellectual Property
On 14 January 2020, the Supreme Court of Denmark reached a decision in the “Popcorn Time” case, concerning contributory copyright infringement on the Internet.

The Supreme Court considered a number of questions of general importance in relation to contributory copyright infringements committed in relation to the streaming service Popcorn Time, wherein the defendant, amongst other things, had provided guidance in the use of the streaming service and supplied links to websites from where the streaming service could be downloaded.

The Supreme Court found that the defendant had knowingly contributed to copyright infringements, while emphasizing that the actions of the defendant was intentional and that the defendant must have realized that use of the instructions on the website would lead to infringements of copyright protected material. The Eastern High Court had reached the same result.

Lundgrens is pleased with the result of the case as it emphasizes the possibility for rightsholders to claim that contributions to illegal online streaming is a punishable offence, thereby securing a more effective enforcement of intellectual property rights on the Internet.