UK pub owner fined £8,000 for copyright infringement

It is believed that the case is the first of its kind in the United Kingdom but the law surrounding open Wi-Fi hotpots and the liability of pub owners who run the service on their premises remain grey areas.

Clients of The Cloud include Fullers, Greene King, Marsdens, Scottish & Newcastle, Mitchell & Butlers and Punch Taverns.

According to internet law professor Lilian Edwards, of Sheffield Law School, where a business operates an open Wi-Fi spot to give customers or visitors internet access, they would be "not be responsible in theory" for users' unlawful downloads, under "existing substantive copyright law".

She also said that measures which fall under the Digital Economy Bill do not apply to pub owners who run Wi-Fi hotspots because the business could be classified as a public communications service provider, which would make it exempt. According to the terms of the bill, only "subscribers" can be targeted with sanctions.

According to legal advice sent to The Cloud by law firm Faegre & Benson on August 17, "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".

Edwards noted that, even if the sanctions proposed in the Digital Economy Bill should come into force, "no-one will know who  (the downloader) was, because the IP address that will show up will be of the hotspot