CJEU rules VPN providers not liable for copyright infringement

The judgment arose from a dispute over the online publication of Anne Frank’s manuscripts. Academic institutions in Belgium and the Netherlands published a free scholarly edition online, but restricted access from the Netherlands because parts of the work remain under copyright there until 2037.

The Anne Frank Fonds, holder of the Dutch copyright, argued that the publishers were still making the material available to Dutch readers because users could circumvent the geo-block using VPNs.

The CJEU rejected that argument, holding that publishers using “state-of-the-art” geo-blocking technology cannot be held responsible simply because users choose to bypass those restrictions.

The court said “the possibility of such circumvention cannot, in itself and in all circumstances, be a decisive factor in finding those measures to be inadequate and, therefore, ineffective.”

The ruling is expected to have significant implications for copyright enforcement across the EU, confirming that the existence of VPNs alone does not render geo-blocking measures ineffective. It also reinforces the lawful status of VPNs as legitimate privacy tools.