Telcos do not have to hand over the names and addresses of people that the music and film industry suspect of file sharing content, an E.U. court has ruled.

The European Court of Justice has said that if European Union nations want to, they could introduce rules to oblige companies to hand over personal data in civil cases. However, the way laws work at the moment forbids the practice.

The court upheld the Spanish telecom company Telefonica's right to refuse to hand over information that would identify who had used the file-sharing program, Kazaa.

Telefonica said Spanish law only allows it to share personal data for criminal prosecutions or matters of public security and national defense.