New voluntary agreement between rightsholders and internet service providers on simplified handling of court cases involving blocking injunctions

Today, court procedures on blocking websites that illegally make copyright protected content available online takes a long time in Sweden.

To shorten the time that the court spends on preparing the case, several right holders and Sweden’s major internet providers have entered into an agreement on a simplified and thereby more efficient handling of blocking orders. The agreement means that several internet providers are included in the same court case and that the parties at an earlier stage in the process exchange information on the scope of the court claims. The simplified process means that the court, upon application from a right holder, can decide focus on the core issue of whether a website should be blocked or not, while maintaining legal certainty.

The parties to the agreement have also agreed to jointly strive for new, clear legislation for administrative site blocking in Sweden.

To use the simplified process, a right holder or an internet service provider need to join the agreement via the accession agreement found in appendix 3. Joining the agreement is voluntary and any party can choose to end their status as a signatory at any time.

The agreement in full here.

The accession agreement and information about connection can be found here.

A list of parties that have joined the agreement can be found here.

Published: 2022-05-05