A recent ruling by the German Federal Court of Justice has opened the possibility that ad blocking software might violate copyright law. The court partially overturned a decision from an appeals court in a long-standing copyright dispute involving Axel Springer and Eyeo GmbH, the maker of Adblock Plus. The ruling indicates that using ad blocking software may infringe on a copyright holder's right to modify software. The case will need to be revisited by the appellate court, potentially extending resolution timelines significantly.
The ruling says that the appeals court erred when it determined that the use of ad blocking software does not infringe on a copyright holder's exclusive right to modify a computer program.
Philipp-Christian Thomale celebrated the ruling in a post to LinkedIn, calling it 'a true milestone in the copyright protection of software - especially with regard to cloud-based applications (SaaS).'
He argues that 'software providers will be better equipped to defend against manipulation by third-party software.'
The appellate court that initially heard and rejected that argument will now have to revisit the matter, a process likely to add several years to a case that Eyeo believed was settled seven years ago.
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