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.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The professors are from the Centre for Technology and Society, a part of the prestigious Brazilian think-tank Fundação Getulio Vargas.

The reason for barring those professors entry could be that the organisation they are a part of, the Centre for Technology and Society, has prepared a manifesto that proposes to “amend” Brazilian copyright law. The IFPI probably didn’t want them around while they announced their new round of lawsuits where they try to catch another 8,000 alleged file sharers. Makes sense doesn’t it?

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry or the IFPI (official website) represents almost 1500 record companies in 75 countries and has announced similar anti-piracy campaigns in the past.

The official explanation for barring the profs was that the seating room could only hold 40 people. The funny thing is however that there were already 50 people in the room! So, they asked if they could stand and at least listen to the debate. Apparently, there wasn’t even room for standing. What really adds the cherry to this tropical sundae of suspicious behaviour is the fact that the professors were officially invited and given permission to participate.

Later on it was discovered from various news agencies including Reuters and the AP that it was in fact a lie and that there was ample seating available in the room.

A petition has been started to support the manifesto prepared by the Professors’ organisation. If you’re interested, you might want to have a look it at here (scroll down for the English version).

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.