Last year a man from Sweden became the first BitTorrent user in the country to be found guilty of sharing multiple movies. After a complaint by the prosecutor the case went to appeal and has now concluded with an ever-so-slightly increased fine.
In 2010 a man was house-sitting for a friend when early one morning he was confronted by police officers looking for the property owner. Unfortunately the police decided to search the sitter’s computer while they were there.
An investigation revealed a uTorrent client loaded with torrents and around 60 movies. The then 25-year-old was reported to both the prosecutor and copyright holders and charges were later pressed.
Last year the case was heard but the court went reasonably gently on the guy, handing down a 6,000 kronor ($920) fine. Displeased with this leniency, the prosecutor appealed.
The Court of Appeal has just reconsidered the case and decided that the original sentence was indeed a little on the light side. The original fine was increased to 8,000 kronor ($1,200).
Prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad noted that the man had not infringed copyright on a commercial level.