Finnish court rules open Wi-Fi network owner not liable for infringement

Several hundred use a network, someone infringes -- can’t blame the owner.

A Finnish District Court has ruled that the owner of an open Wi-Fi network is not liable for copyright infringement by others using that network. “The applicants were unable to provide any evidence that the connection-owner herself had been involved in the file-sharing,” the defendant’s attorneys wrote in an English-language press release. “The court thus examined whether the mere act of providing a Wi-Fi connection not protected with a password can be deemed to constitute a copyright-infringing act.” The case was brought by the Finnish Anti-Piracy Centre, a coalition of intellectual property rights managers in Finland. The group sued the woman for €6,000 ($7,700) for copyright infringement. The alleged infringement occurred after an audience of several hundred were attending a play at defendant's home on July 14, 2010, and apparently at least one person downloaded some copyrighted material without permission.