--- title: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in... description: The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that VPN providers are not liable for copyright infringement, officially classifying VPNs as... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/vpns-are-lawful-technical-tools-says-eu-court-in-landmark-anne-frank-copyright-ruling-cu84ursaj twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark Anne Frank copyright ruling | daily.dev og:description: The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that VPN providers are not liable for copyright infringement, officially classifying VPNs as... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/vpns-are-lawful-technical-tools-says-eu-court-in-landmark-anne-frank-copyright-ruling-cu84ursaj og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/CU84urSaJ.png og:image:alt: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark Anne Frank copyright ruling og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark Anne Frank copyright ruling **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 4 min read · 4 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that VPN providers are not liable for copyright infringement, officially classifying VPNs as 'lawful technical tools.' The ruling stems from a case involving the online publication of Anne Frank's diary by Dutch and Belgian academic institutions, who used geo-blocking to restrict Dutch access due to territorial copyright differences. The Anne Frank Fonds sued, arguing that VPNs made the geo-blocking ineffective. The CJEU rejected this, ruling that as long as publishers employ 'state-of-the-art' geo-blocking, they cannot be held liable if users bypass it with a VPN. The decision sets a major precedent: copyright holders cannot claim a website's protections are inadequate simply because VPNs exist, and VPN providers bear no responsibility for users who circumvent geo-restrictions. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Are VPN providers liable for copyright infringement when users bypass geo-blocking? No. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that VPN providers are not liable for copyright infringement committed by users who use a VPN to bypass geo-blocking restrictions. The court categorized VPNs as lawful technical tools and rejected arguments that their mere existence makes geo-blocking measures legally ineffective. _Anyone weighing VPN legal risk can follow rulings like this through daily.dev's coverage of privacy and security law._ ### Does a website need perfect geo-blocking to avoid copyright liability under EU law? No, publishers only need to implement state-of-the-art geo-blocking measures, not unhackable ones. The CJEU ruled that the possibility of VPN circumvention cannot, by itself, make such measures inadequate or ineffective, so copyright holders cannot claim liability just because determined users find workarounds. _Teams building geo-restricted services can track how compliance expectations evolve via daily.dev._ ### What is the copyright status of Anne Frank's diary in the Netherlands versus Belgium? Anne Frank's diary entered the public domain in Belgium and roughly 60 other countries years ago, but parts of the text remain copyright-protected in the Netherlands until 2037. This territorial split led Dutch and Belgian academic institutions to host a scholarly edition in Belgium while geo-blocking Dutch IP addresses, sparking the CJEU case. _Developers handling territorial licensing logic can follow how courts interpret geo-blocking obligations on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Denmark takes a Viking swing at VPN-enabled piracy](https://daily.dev/posts/denmark-takes-a-viking-swing-at-vpn-enabled-piracy-yd85ot7b9) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [French Court Orders Popular VPNs to Block More Pirate Sites, Despite Opposition \* TorrentFreak](https://daily.dev/posts/french-court-orders-popular-vpns-to-block-more-pirate-sites-despite-opposition-torrentfreak-ldbjo5ha6) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Is Denmark Really Banning VPNs? A Controversial Bill Has People Worried](https://daily.dev/posts/is-denmark-really-banning-vpns-a-controversial-bill-has-people-worried-n8mbmws5j) · It's Foss · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Spanish Court Declines to Fine NordVPN Over LaLiga Piracy Blocking Order \* TorrentFreak](https://daily.dev/posts/spanish-court-declines-to-fine-nordvpn-over-laliga-piracy-blocking-order-torrentfreak-gcsfnohb8) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The ripple effects of a VPN ban](https://daily.dev/posts/the-ripple-effects-of-a-vpn-ban-nodiqafzv) · InfoWorld · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy), [#vpn](https://daily.dev/tags/vpn) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/vpns-are-lawful-technical-tools-says-eu-court-in-landmark-anne-frank-copyright-ruling-cu84ursaj) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark Anne Frank copyright ruling","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/vpns-are-lawful-technical-tools-says-eu-court-in-landmark-anne-frank-copyright-ruling-cu84ursaj","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/vpns-are-lawful-technical-tools-says-eu-court-in-landmark-anne-frank-copyright-ruling-cu84ursaj"},"datePublished":"2026-07-21T20:42:59.772Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T21:31:17.603Z","description":"The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that VPN providers are not liable for copyright infringement, officially classifying VPNs as...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/aac05c2c73b28eafd1fe5d24746b742f?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/aac05c2c73b28eafd1fe5d24746b742f?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hacker News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hacker News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/hn","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/vpns-are-lawful-technical-tools-says-eu-court-in-landmark-anne-frank-copyright-ruling-cu84ursaj","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"privacy,vpn","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hacker News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark Anne Frank copyright ruling"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/vpns-are-lawful-technical-tools-says-eu-court-in-landmark-anne-frank-copyright-ruling-cu84ursaj#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Are VPN providers liable for copyright infringement when users bypass geo-blocking?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that VPN providers are not liable for copyright infringement committed by users who use a VPN to bypass geo-blocking restrictions. The court categorized VPNs as lawful technical tools and rejected arguments that their mere existence makes geo-blocking measures legally ineffective. Anyone weighing VPN legal risk can follow rulings like this through daily.dev's coverage of privacy and security law."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Does a website need perfect geo-blocking to avoid copyright liability under EU law?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No, publishers only need to implement state-of-the-art geo-blocking measures, not unhackable ones. The CJEU ruled that the possibility of VPN circumvention cannot, by itself, make such measures inadequate or ineffective, so copyright holders cannot claim liability just because determined users find workarounds. Teams building geo-restricted services can track how compliance expectations evolve via daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the copyright status of Anne Frank's diary in the Netherlands versus Belgium?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Anne Frank's diary entered the public domain in Belgium and roughly 60 other countries years ago, but parts of the text remain copyright-protected in the Netherlands until 2037. This territorial split led Dutch and Belgian academic institutions to host a scholarly edition in Belgium while geo-blocking Dutch IP addresses, sparking the CJEU case. Developers handling territorial licensing logic can follow how courts interpret geo-blocking obligations on daily.dev."}}]} ```