EU Court: State-of-the-Art Geo-Blocking Shields Publishers from VPN Liability
The ruling establishes that geo-blocking is a permissible technical measure for copyright holders to meet their obligations, even if not foolproof, affecting how works with different public domain terms across EU countries can be published online.
Reporting from 1 source: GIGAZINE.
The EU's top court ruled that publishers using state-of-the-art geo-blocking are not liable for copyright infringement when users circumvent the restrictions via VPN. The decision came in a case involving The Diary of Anne Frank, where the Anne Frank Fund argued that geo-blocking must be 100% effective. The court held that the technical measure is sufficient, clarifying the legal standard for online publication of works with varying public domain status across EU member states.
The Court of Justice of the European Union, Second Chamber, issued the judgment in July 2026, rejecting the Anne Frank Fund's argument that geo-blocking must be absolute. The Anne Frank Foundation had published an academic edition of The Diary of Anne Frank online, using geo-blocking to restrict access from the Netherlands, where the Fund still claims copyright through Otto Frank. The Fund sought an order to stop publication or to block access even via VPN. The CJEU ruled that publishers who use state-of-the-art geo-blocking technology do not need to be held liable if users circumvent it. The decision affirms the March 2023 Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruling, which found no infringement. The case now returns to the Dutch Supreme Court for final application.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.