So, some confusion regarding the latest developments in the ongoing dispute between Belgian royalty collecting society Sabam and internet service provider Scarlet.
As previously reported, Sabam claimed that Scarlet, previously Tiscali Belgium, were not doing enough to stop copyright violation being committed on their servers, and successfully sued to that effect in the Brussels courts. The ISP argued, as ISPs usually do, that they couldn't be held responsible for the actions of their customers, but the court disagreed. They were told they'd be fined 2500 euros for every day they failed to introduce acceptable technical measures to combat file sharing.
Scarlet have been appealing the ruling and the fine and there were reports they'd been successful. However, Sabam have issued a statement saying that the concession the ISP has won relates to when the daily fine should start. The court admitted the original ruling was too demanding on how quickly P2P blockers could be introduced. But, Sabam says, the actual ruling still stands, and the daily fine will resume from this week.
They said in a statement: "Scarlet may have won some extra time, but the Sword of Damocles is still hanging over its head. If Scarlet fails to comply with the court order to prevent P2P infringements by its users in the lead up to the appeal hearing in October 2009, it could still have to pay penalties amounting to some one million euros. The recent judgment provides clear guidance for Scarlet, suggesting that it should consider all potential solutions in order to reach the sought-after goal and should work out an objective and reliable procedure to implement them, if necessary combining them".
The ISP's appeal of the actual ruling continues.