Higher Court in Maribor, VSM sodba I Cp 11/2015

The Court upheld the decision of the court of first instance which imposed liability on the operator of a discussion forum for failing to remove defamatory statements, written by its users. The Court stated that the defendant was acting as a host provider under the meaning of article 11 of ZEPT (article 14 of eCommerce directive); therefore, he was obliged to immediately remove or disable access to the infringing statements, as soon as he was informed of their illegal nature. The court concluded that in failing to do so, the discussion forum operator was liable for the unlawful conduct of its users.