Alleged Filesharer Acquitted by Appeal Court
The first person ever charged with filesharing in Sweden is acquitted by the Appeal Court.
A year ago the 29 year old man was fined $2200 by the District Court for uploading the Swedish movie “Hip Hip Hora”. However, the Appeal Court discharged the man from infringing copyright, because there was not enough proof that the man uploaded the film from his computer.
The present ruling makes it hard for the anti-piracy lobby in Sweden to get someone fined in future cases since it’s hard to get technical evidence, and the police are not allowed to conduct a house search for filesharing crimes.
Christian Engström of the Swedish Pirate Party was happy with the outcome and told The Local
“It is obviously good that the court is careful with its evidence and it is important that the lower courts take note of that. But the judgment doesn’t really mean much for file sharing as such. And our basic point is of course that it is absurd that someone should even be tried for making culture available to others”.
Hip Hip Hora…
