The Act on Responsibility for Electronic Bulletin Board requires internet sites, where users can post comments about a particular issue or topic and reply to other users' postings (i.e. bulletin boards), to monitor the service regularly and to an extent that may reasonably be required taking into account the scope and nature of the service. An intentional or grossly negligent violation of the obligation to remove illegal content is considered as a criminal offence. The Act includes an information duty (Section 3), a supervision duty (Section 4), and a duty to erase certain messages (Section 5).
This is despite Art. 15 of Directive 2000/31/EC (e-Commerce Directive) stating that Member States should not impose on providers a general obligation to monitor the information which they transmit or store, nor a general obligation actively to seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity.

The Protective Security Act, which was amended in 2019 to allow Swedish security and intelligence forces to recommend the revocation of operating licenses for firms in sectors important to national security if they are found to pose a security risk. The law was used in 2020 to ban Huawei and ZTE equipment from being used in the Swedish network. Specifically, the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) has told telecommunications operators in Sweden vying for licensing rights at auction that bids including Huawei or ZTE equipment will not be considered, and pre-existing Huawei and ZTE infrastructure would need to be decommissioned by 2025. This effective ban on Huawei and ZTE equipment has been challenged in court, but so far, the decision has been upheld in the Swedish court.

It is reported that the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

Pursuant to Chapter 7, Section 2 of the Swedish Bookkeeping Act, accounting records pertaining to Swedish entities acting as data controllers must be retained for at least seven years within the territory of Sweden.

The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides a comprehensive framework for data protection that applies to all EU Member States. The GDPR was implemented in Sweden through a variety of pieces of legislation including the Act with supplementary provisions to the GDPR (SFS 2018:218) and the Ordinance with Supplementary Provisions to the GDPR (SFS 2018:219).

Under the EU Directive on Data Retention, operators were required to retain certain categories of traffic and location data (excluding the content of those communications) for a period between six months and two years and to make them available, on request, to law enforcement authorities for the purposes of investigating, detecting and prosecuting serious crime and terrorism. On 8 April 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union declared the Directive invalid. However, not all national laws that implemented the Directive have been overturned.
In Sweden, Section 22 of Chapter 9 of the Electronic Communications Act (SFS 2022:482) stipulates minimum periods of retention for certain types of data in order to aid law enforcement. This requires, inter alia, that telecommunications operators retain internet access data for ten months, location information for two months, and call data for six months. These requirements were previously outlined in Section 16 d of Chapter 6 of the Act (2003:389) on Electronic Communication (as amended in 2019), which has been superseded by the 2022 Act.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbour. Not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, leading to divergent national case law that could cause legal insecurity on an EU level.
The Act on Electronic Commerce and Information Society Services (2002) implements Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive), however it fails to establish a conditional safe harbour for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Sweden.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbour. Not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, leading to divergent national case law that could cause legal insecurity on an EU level.
The Act on Electronic Commerce and Information Society Services (2002) implements Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive), however it fails to establish a conditional safe harbour for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Sweden.

It has been reported that patent filing fees for foreign applicants in Sweden are higher than those for domestic applicants. The Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV) suggests that non-residents may need to engage a local agent to file a patent. According to the Swedish Intellectual Property Office, fees for foreign patent applications range from 140 to 18,610 SEK (approximately 13 to 1,700 USD), while fees for domestic applicants range from 150 to 8,450 SEK (approximately 14 to 800 USD). Additionally, inventions made in Sweden that have implications for national security require authorisation from the Swedish patent office before they can be filed abroad.

Sweden is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

There is no general principle for the use of copyright-protected material comparable to the fair use/fair dealing principles. Directive 2001/29/EC defines an optional but exhaustive set of limitations from the author´s exclusive rights under the control of the “three-step test” in line with the Berne Convention that establishes three cumulative conditions to the limitations and exceptions of a copyright holder’s rights. The Directive has been transposed by Member States with significant freedom.
The Swedish Act on Copyright in Literary and Artistic Works was amended to be consistent with the Directive, but Sweden applies copyright exceptions very narrowly, choosing not to employ the three-step test. The economic rights conferred by the Copyright Act are relaxed in cases of making physical copies for private or educational use or when an author has previously authorised the reproduction of the work in the EEA (the Consumption Principle). However, Section 12 of the Copyright Act explicitly excludes creating digital copies of copyrighted material or making copies of computer programs and software, and a 2016 ruling by the Swedish Supreme Court found that posting photos of public art online was not consistent with Swedish copyright law.

The European Union and Sweden have adopted the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty. The treaty was ratified on 14 December 2009 and came into effect on 14 March 2010.

The European Union and Sweden have adopted the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty. The treaty was ratified on 14 December 2009 and came into effect on 14 March 2010.

The Directive 2016/943 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) is key in harmonising national laws concerning trade secrets. Sweden transposed the Directive through a series of amendments to existing legislation as well as the Trade Secrets Act of 2018.

In Sweden, the sharing of passive infrastructure is mandated to support the delivery of telecommunications services to end users. Pursuant to Sections 15 and 16 of Chapter 5 of the Electronic Communications Act, operators classified as undertakings with significant market power may be required to comply with reasonable requests for access to and use of infrastructure essential for the construction of electronic communications networks, as well as networks and associated facilities necessary for providing electronic communications services.