In June 2004, Société belge des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs SCRL (‘SABAM'), a Belgian management company which represents authors, composers, and editors of musical works in authorising the use of their copyright-protected works by third parties brought interlocutory proceedings against Scarlet, an internet service provider, which offers Internet without offering file sharing and downloading services. SABAM alleged that Internet users of Scarlet’s services were downloading copyrighted works in SABAM’s catalogue without authorization by using peer-to-peer software. In addition to seeking a declaration that copyright was infringed by Internet users through the use of Scarlet’s services, the association sought an injunction, ordering Scarlet to block or make it impossible for its customers to send or receive files containing copyrighted musical works.
In June 2007, a court of first instance in Brussels found copyright infringement and ordered Scarlet to take all measures in order to block unlawful use of file sharing by its customers. On appeal, the Brussels Court of Appeals stayed the proceedings and referred the case to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling on whether it is in compliance with EU laws for a national court to issue an injunction against Internet intermediaries whose services are used by third parties to infringe a copyright and to force the companies to install a filtering system in order to block unlawful use of file sharing. The Court held that such a measure would be incompatible with EU Directives, namely with Article 15(1) of Directive 2000/31, which prohibits imposition of an obligation on an Internet service provider to carry out general monitoring of the information that it transmits on its network, and would be against the fundamental rights of Internet users to the protection of their personal data and freedom of expression guaranteed under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.