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The case was brought by a Spanish music and audiovisual association after telecoms provider Telefonica refused to hand over the names and addresses of its Internet clients suspected of running illegal file sharing sites.

The association, Promusicae, wanted to identify the clients who used the file-sharing programme KaZaA so it could start taking action against them.

But advocate general Juliane Kokott, whose role is to advise the judges, said on Wednesday that European countries can choose to exclude personal data and details in the context of a civil, as opposed to a criminal, action.

The court follows the advice of advocates general on most occasions.