German Court Rules Parents Must Turn Over Their Kids for Torrenting

A German lawcourt has ruled on a copyright violation shell that dates back to 2011 and the finding of fact has disturb consequences for parents . Therulingfound that parents must discover their child by name as the one creditworthy for downloading a deluge or they will be held responsible for the violation .

Aseriesof late example have been delimitate how Germany ’s sound system will handle parents who take to have not been involved in illegal file - communion but are being pursued by copyright claimants . The up-to-the-minute involves a claim impart by Universal Music Group regarding the illegal downloading of Rihanna ’s 2011 record album Loud . The parents have a notice from Universal demanding defrayal . The parents say they were n’t really sports fan of Ri - Ri but one of their three children was responsible . They had no intent of ratting on their own kid and convey their compositor’s case to court of justice .

In October of last year , the same court had to reviewa similar casein paint which a man deny hijack files and named his married woman as a cobalt - user of the household broadband connexion . He decline to detail his wife ’s browsing habits and successfully argued that under German law of nature citizens are protect from violating the privacy of their family .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

But this week ’s finding of fact was dissimilar . The parents were found liable for the child ’s torrenting andorderedto give € 3,879.80 ( $ 4,137.61 ) in amercement . The court of law chairman , Wolfgang Büscher , argued that this event “ is not like ” to the one from October because the child had admitted everything to their parent . Because the parents had admitted that they know which child was responsible for but refused to give a name they will have to “ conduct the corresponding disadvantages . ”

It ’s a reversal to the parent of violent stream - happy child across Germany and follows on the heel of a like causa from earlier in March . In those minutes , a father claim that his 11 - twelvemonth - old boy had download a rule book that was the subject of a copyright complaint . He explicate that he had warn his son not to “ download random things or do anything dangerous,”according to Torrent Freak . A judgeruledthat the beginner would have to be reserve responsible for the download because he is required to “ instruct a child on the illegality of enter in illegal file - sharing central , and to explicitly forbid this behavior . ”

These developments add to the ongoing complexity of the German approach to make up one’s mind how the legal philosophy will handle the new emergence that arise from the widespread habit of the internet . While Germany is considered one the best state in the populace forinternet freedomand theprotection of privacy , it ’s also quitestrictwhen it comes to the enforcement of copyright . That has opened the doorway forcopyright trollswho can take vantage of timid users , much like therecent Prenda Lawcase in the United States .

William Duplessie