State-of-the-Art Geo-Blocking is Good Enough, Even if VPNs Enable Circumvention: The CJEU on Territorial Copyright and the Public Domain in Anne Frank Fonds

Territorial copyright and the borderless Internet have never sat comfortably together. The CJEU’s judgment in Anne Frank Fonds (C-788/24), delivered on 9 July, demonstrates that this tension remains very much alive. Faced with works that have entered the public domain in some Member States but remain protected in others, the Court concludes that geo-blocking retains legal significance for copyright law purposes despite the possibility of VPN circumvention, provided that it qualifies as an “effective technological measure” within the meaning of Article 6(3) of the InfoSoc Directive – that is, a technological measure intended to prevent or limit acts not authorised by the copyright holder (paras. 44-56).