Wifi copyright infringement has claimed yet another victim, in the form of a pub owner in the United Kingdom, who has been slapped with a fine of more than $13,000 due to the unlawful download of copyrighted material by an anonymous user, over one of the wifi spots owned by the pub. The wifi services to the pub in question was provided by the ISP (internet service provider), The Cloud.

Such a case of wifi copyright infringement is the very first of its kind in the United Kingdom, but the ISP, The Cloud has so far refused to reveal the name of the pub that has to pay the fine, as the pub owner hasn’t permitted Cloud to reveal the details. The case was brought on by a copyright entity against the pub owner in a civil court case, where the pub was sentenced to pay the fine.

However, Lilian Edwards of Sheffield Law School has stated that, in theory, any and all online activities done by the users, including downloads via the wifi hotspots of the businesses does not make organizations liable for any damages done by the users’ activities.

As per the legal papers sent to The Cloud by Faegre & Benson, which is a law firm,

“Wi-Fi hotspots in public and enterprise environments providing access to the internet to members of the public, free or paid, are public communications services”.

Via ZD Net UK.