Data retention in the light of copyright infringements: Protecting the status quo or seeking a third way? (Case C-470/21 La Quadrature du Net II)
| Published date | 01 August 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X241287402 |
| Author | Marcin Rojszczak |
| Date | 01 August 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Case Notes |
Data retention in the light
of copyright infringements:
Protecting the status quo
or seeking a third way?
(Case C-470/21 La Quadrature
du Net II)
Marcin Rojszczak*
Abstract
In La Quadrature du Net II, the EU Court of Justice addressed –once again –the issue of the
application of national retention legislation providing for the generalized retention of telecom-
munications data. This time, unlike in the previous cases, the problem was examined not in
relation to measures used in the areas of combating serious crime or pursuing national secur-
ity objectives, but in relation to counteracting online copyright infringements. Hence the case,
decided by the CJEU sitting as the Full Court, concerned an important and topical issue,
namely the possibility of countering mass copyright infringements in a situation where, accord-
ing to a strict reading of the previous case law, the permissibility of imposing an obligation on
telecommunications operators to collect information on users’IP addresses was questioned.
The LQDN II judgment –commented on by some as diverging from previous case law –is an
important and necessary complement to the Court’s earlier interpretation and, at the same
time, a guideline on how to design retention laws to be applied not only in the area of counter-
ing copyright infringements, but also in other important areas, such as the fight against hate
speech.
Keywords
Data retention, data protection, surveillance, Hadopi, IP address retention
*
Politechnika Warszawska, Warszawa, Poland
Corresponding author:
Marcin Rojszczak, Politechnika Warszawska, pl. Politechniki 1, Warszawa, 00-661, Poland.
Email: marcin.rojszczak@gmail.com
Case Note
Maastricht Journal of European and
Comparative Law
2024, Vol. 31(4) 521–534
© The Author(s) 2024
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1023263X241287402
maastrichtjournal.sagepub.com
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