Spanish judge: Non-commercial filesharing is legal
Written by Smaran on November 03, 2006A judge in Spain has dismissed a case against a man who downloaded and shared copyrighted music on the Internet. It was dismissed on the grounds that the man’s intent wasn’t to make money.
The ruling was made yesterday (Thursday) by Judge Paz Aldecoa in a penal court in Santander, a northern city in Spain. He said that because the man was not profiting from sharing these files, he could not be held liable. Judge Aldecoa said that a guilty verdict “would imply the criminalization of socially accepted and widely practiced behavior in which the aim is in no way to make money illicitly, but rather to obtain copies for private use.”
The national news agency is reporting that this is the first such ruling in Spain. The law in Spain dictates that there needs to be “an intent to profit”, for someone to be held liable for copyright violation. A few years ago, the recording industry tried to sue 4,000 filesharers in Spain on the grounds that “intent to save money” is the same as “intent to profit.”
It seems like Spain is one country that’s really standing up and saying ‘no’ to what they think isn’t right. A Spanish Senator is suggesting that the law firm broke the law by “intercepting private communications” without a court order. The firm replied by saying that by using “older P2P software” the names of the files traded and IP addresses were publicly available to them.
The Spanish law firm that was filing the lawsuits on behalf of the recording industry said that they would demand maximum jail sentences for each convicted individual plus compensation equivalent to the market value of each file illegally distributed. It claimed that the P2P piracy in Spain had cost them more than $96 million.
Previously: Creative Commons launches video sharing fundraising campaign
Next: RIAA Targets University
11 Responses
It’s amazing how many numbers the RIAA and MPAA can pull out of their ass.
But it’s also nice to see someone finally standing up and not take shit from those sneaky sons of bitches.
Maybe they will understand that they should rather go after the people who re-produce and sell the pirated stuff instead of alwayd hunting small fish.
However, I guess that if Spain stands up to RIAA, the Record Industry will most likely tell the congress to threaten to boicott Spain (import/export).
FYI – Spain is not the only one. It’s also perfectly legal in Canada (for personal use). The canadian judge said that “It’s no different than a copier machine in a library.”
heh, it’s about time they got a good slap in the face. Of course, all it takes is a little pressure from the us and presto, spanish law might change, although, at the moment, the us isnt exactly the favorite of the spanish, so it might be a little while before something like that happens.
“older P2P software” the names of the files traded and IP addresses were publicly available to them.
Is there new p2p software that hides IP?
[quote comment="19312"]“older P2P software” the names of the files traded and IP addresses were publicly available to them.
Is there new p2p software that hides IP?[/quote]
No, not that I know of…
But some P2P programs do send the files via many links (other users) and don’t tell the uploader who the downloader is. That might count as “IP hiding”. ;)
Try MIRC,http://www.mirc.com/ its free and the feds cant touch you!
OOOOOOooops forgot, u need to use this http://www.packetnews.com/ to find your file.
I’m so glad that Spain understands the difference between people who make money from pirated software and music, and the people who just want a copy of it for themselves. I mean I don’t see the police in my country (USA) going after my friends that let me barrow one of their music CDs to listen to and make a copy of for my own personal privae use.
Spain and Canada is not the only one. It’s also perfectly legal in The Netherlands (for personal use). The dutch judge said that “Heh, who gives a f**k :) “
spanish copyright management industry are pushing the spanish government to regulate new laws that will force the people to pay all kind of taxes for ISP services and data storage gadgets. So, maybe Judge Paz Aldecoa is just a Robin Hood
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