- The German court has relaunched a legal case which could lead to a ban on advertising blockers on copyright violations
- The case comes from a trial brought by a large German publisher against the company behind Adblock Plus
- If this happens, Germany will be the second country in the world, after China, to ban advertising blockers
The German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) has questioned the even legitimacy of advertising blockers. The investigation court currently on the question of whether these programs – which, by default, block certain elements of a website – can be qualified as copyright violation.
The case comes from a trial brought by Axel Springer, a large German publisher, against EYEO GMBH. Eyeo is the company behind Adblock Plus, which is one of the best advertising blockers according to Techradar reviews.
If advertising blockers are prohibited in Germany, the consequences could be much wider than they seem at first glance. It is not only the blockers of announcements that could be in danger, warns Mozilla, because “such a precedent could encourage legal challenges against other extensions that protect privacy, improve accessibility or improve safety”.
The legal battle between publishers and advertising blockers heats up
Axel Springer SE, who is one of the largest media publishers in Europe, was locked in a legal battle for a decade against Eyeo GmbH, which means Adblock Plus. The publisher maintains that advertising blockers interfere with its right to control the way its content protected by copyright is rendered and displayed, potentially violating the German copyright law – reported Cyberinider.
For a long time, Adblock Plus appeared victorious of these legal battles, but this may not be the case this time. The Federal Court of Justice of Germany canceled certain parts of a decision in 2023 by a Hamburg Court of Appeal, declaring that an additional verification of facts was necessary.
The question comes down to knowing whether the advertising blockers really break copyright laws. The BGH explores the interaction between advertising blockers and various structures of a website, including the browser document object model (DOM) and the CSS object model (CSSOM). The DOM is responsible for all the content to be included on a page, and the CSSOM determines what it looks like.
The key legal question here is: modification of how a website is displayed via the browser side tools like advertising blockers counts the law? If the German courts conclude that yes, it is the violation of copyright, Germany could be the second country in the world to prohibit the block blockers, just behind China.
Why this counts for advertising blockers – and beyond
Announcement blockers are one thing. Many of us use them and help us get rid of annoying advertisements daily. However, if the German courts decide that any type of modifications on the browser side is a copyright violation, many extensions or similar browser tools can also be prohibited.
For example, some of the best VPN software is also delivered with advertising blocking capacities. There are also extensions or browser features that improve accessibility or offer additional confidentiality and security protection, such as against phishing. All of these tools could potentially be prohibited next to the announcements.
Given the potential danger, it is not surprising that Mozilla, the developer behind Firefox, took a strong position on this subject.
In a blog article published earlier this month, Daniel Nazier, main lawyer for Mozilla, Daniel Nazier, notes that freedom, privacy and user security are in danger if this court decision arrives and that Germany prohibits the block blockers.
“We sincerely hope that Germany will not become the second jurisdiction (after China) to prohibit advertising blockers.
The case will now be examined by the Hamburg Court, which could take a year or two. Until then, the future of advertising blockers in Germany will remain uncertain, as is the confidentiality of data in the country and throughout Europe. If other countries decide to withdraw a page from the German game book, we may have a greater legal battle in our hands.
