In 2009, the music and film industry filed a petition for preliminary injunction requiring Telenor to block its customers’ access to The Pirate Bay. Wiersholm, by John S. Gulbrandsen and Rune Opdahl, represents Telenor in this important case. A District Court delivered its decision 6 November 2009 in favour of Telenor and dismissed the petition.

The music and film industry appealed against the District Court's decision. The Court of Appeal delivered its decision 10 February 2010, once more in favour of Telenor, and dismissed the appeal.

After a thorough evaluation, the Court of Appeal concluded that Telenor is not unlawfully contributing to infringement of copyrights taking place by use of The Pirate Bay. The Court of Appeal further concluded that there is thus no basis for imposing Telenor to block the access to the website. Even though the Court of Appeal, after this conclusion, did not need to elaborate on the other conditions, the court still pointed out that the claimants had not rendered probable the basis for provisional measure.

Telenor was awarded legal costs for the appeal.

Telenor has repeatedly emphasized that it does not support infringements that take place by use of The Pirate Bay. On the contrary, Telenor co-operates closely with rights holders by establishing solutions for legal download and streaming of content. The case did not concern the question of whether or not the customers of Telenor infringe copyrights by using The Pirate Bay, but whether or not Telenor, by granting access to The Pirate Bay, commits an illegal act. 

The decision is not yet legally in force, as it may still be subject to yet an appeal.

Click here to read the Court Decision.