Is VPN Use Copyright Infringement? Not So Fast, Lawyers Say

While copyright holders push for services such as Netflix to enforce geographical licensing restrictions, practitioners worldwide say the law is unclear as to whether getting around so-called geoblocks to access restricted content actually constitutes copyright infringement.

Geoblocks are important to rights holders since they preserve long-standing industry practices of geography-based licensing and pricing—copyright-related practices that have been challenged by the Internet.

Though some have suggested that viewers who circumvent geographical blocks are infringing copyright, the law is unclear in many jurisdictions. Notably, Netflix—in announcing last month that it will be more proactive about blocking VPNs—avoided making any such claim. ...