03/02/2020
Muwema -v- Facebook Ireland Ltd [2016] IEHC 519 (23 August 2016)
(3) This Regulation shall not affect the power of any court to make an order against an
intermediary service provider requiring the provider not to infringe, or to cease to
infringe, any legal rights.
17. (1) An intermediary service provider shall not be liable for the automatic intermediate
and temporary storage of information which is performed for the sole purpose of making
more efficient that information’s onward transmission to other users of the service upon
their request, if —
(a) that storage is done in the context of the provision of a relevant service by the
relevant service provider consisting of the transmission in a communication network of
information provided by a recipient of that service,
and
(b) the following conditions are complied with —
(i) the intermediary service provider does not modify the information,
(ii) the intermediary service provider complies with conditions relating to access to
the information,
(iii) the intermediary service provider complies with any rules regarding the
updating of the information that have been specified in a manner widely recognised
and used by industry,
the intermediary service provider does not interfere with the lawful use of
technology, widely recognised and used by industry to obtain data on the use of the
information, and
(iv) the intermediary service provider acts expeditiously to remove or disable
access to the information it has stored upon obtaining actual knowledge of the fact
that the information at the initial source of the transmission has been removed
from the network or access to it has been disabled, or that a court or an
administrative authority has ordered such removal or disablement.
(2) This Regulation shall not affect the power of any court to make an order against an
intermediary service provider requiring the provider not to infringe, or to cease to
infringe, any legal rights.
18. (1) An intermediary service provider who provides a relevant service consisting of the
storage of information provided by a recipient of the service shall not be liable for the
information stored at the request of that recipient if —
(a) the intermediary service provider does not have actual knowledge of the
unlawful activity concerned and, as regards claims for damages, is not aware of
facts or circumstances from which that unlawful activity is apparent, or
(b) the intermediary service provider, upon obtaining such knowledge or
awareness, acts expeditiously to remove or to disable access to the information.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply where the recipient of the service is acting under the
authority or the control of the intermediary service provider referred to in that paragraph.
(3) This Regulation shall not affect the power of any court to make an order against an
intermediary service provider requiring the provider not to infringe, or to cease to
infringe, any legal rights.
40. While the plaintiff relies upon Regulation 18(3) of the Regulations in support of this application,
the defendant submits that Regulation 18 otherwise limits the liability of intermediary service
providers in respect of claims of damages provided that, the intermediary service provider does not
have actual knowledge of the unlawful activity concerned or, upon obtaining such knowledge, acts
www.bailii.org/ie/cases/IEHC/2016/H519.html
9/15
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents