Judge Rules P2P Legal, Sites Innocent
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: p2p, torrent, usenet, download | Themes: The Internet
A judge ruled in SPain that P2P networks do not violate Intellectual Property law.
In a legal battle against eD2K link site elrincondejesus.com, a judge has ruled--for the first time ever--that P2P networks do not violate (in principle) any right protected by Intellectual Property law. The ruling serves as another blow to the entertainment industry in Spain after the "3-strikes" rule was shot down, and the request to throttle illicit file sharers went ignored. The Coalition of Creators and Content Industries, a group that includes Promusicae and SGAE, thus went after the country's 200 torrent sites. However that too proved pointless, as the Spanish court ruled in favor of the torrent sites each time, saying that linking is not illegal providing that profits aren't made directly from infringement.
With that said, the SGAE went after the torrent and eD2K sites privately. elrincondejesus.com received its complaint on May 13th, claiming that its links "abused" the copyrights held by the SGAE members, thus the site's owner was summoned to appear in court on June 5th. According to a message posted on the website, the owner was innocent, as elrincondejesus.com does not advertise, but merely provides links to other sites "like thousands of search engines in the world.”
According to the ruling, Barcelona judge Raul N. García Orejudo agreed. In addition to his verdict that P2P networks do not violate Intellectual Property law, many barred activities do not concern P2P, and that there has to be a presumption of innocence. “Adding a work or video recording to Emule, that has previously been converted to a compatible computer file, is not an act of reproduction,” he said in regards to possible infringements of the Intellectual Property Act. “Copying is not a profitable use, or collective use [such as broadcasting in a store], as these two terms refer to the subsequent use made of the work once downloaded, after the copy.”
TorrentFreak added that the Intellectual Property Act describes distribution as needing something tangible--an FTP or a website offering copyright material to download would be two examples--and P2P networks to not fall within that area. Despite the ruling, the court did recognize the fact that public distribution may have occurred, however it's difficult to prove since any one person could have shared the files on the network.
As this was a pre-trial hearing, the full trial against the owner of elrincondejesus is scheduled to take place at a later date.
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Wow! Spain > Sweden!
Well done! At least one judge isn't getting paid by the RIAA, and others like it.
This judge should have had a say on the TPB trial.
Wow, so maybe there's a country out there whose legal system isn't broken
good news to hear for once.
Well done !!!
Do not buy any products from any large labels and /or small labels who sign with the RIAA.
Do not buy any music from any artists who are signed to the RIAA.
support local music in your area.
support small lables
support independent artists
The Above average downloader: 1
The Riaa: 0
At last justice ... Declaring p2p illegal is idiotic ...
Apparently this is the only Judge that is in touch with the technology age. Way to go Spain!
Awesome! Go Spain!
Lol:
"technical understanding and common sense serve as another blow to the entertainment industry..."
Well... if they want to punish P2P, they should charge everyone 80K$ each song that we downloaded... that way we could start out a new economical system since every penny would be owned by the RIAA.
This is great!
Now if we can only kill off the RIAA with extreme prejudice then the world would be so much better.
There was Caesar, then there was Vlad Dracula, then there was Hitler, then there was Stalin, then there was Saddam, and now there is the RIAA.
[citation][nom]There was Caesar, then there was Vlad Dracula, then there was Hitler, then there was Stalin, then there was Saddam, and now there is the RIAA.[/citation]
Lol!!
And whoot whoot!
Spain rules!
No Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeit
[citation][nom]There was Caesar, then there was Vlad Dracula, then there was Hitler, then there was Stalin, then there was Saddam, and now there is the RIAA.
Lol!!And whoot whoot![/citation]
Ahem... you forgot to note the following: LYING, deceitful, Puppets for the MEGA RICH Bankers aka The "President(s)"
Bush Crime Family: (Grandpa Bush was a NAZI funder! Google it) Bush Sr --> Clinton --> Bush jr --> and now Obama! Lol... New WORLD ORDER.
What, no one shows their love for Canada?
Me luv my copyright laws here.
Go Spain!
Let's just hope this isn't abused.
So what now, the RIAA sues Spain. Better hire some interpreters RIAA.
well, at least we know now where to retire... he, he,.....
but seriously, rationality prevails at last and hope other countris will follow suit..
P2P file sharing itself (non copyrighted material) is perfectly legal. Technically the program or website giving access to P2P-ers is perfectly legal as well. The people actually breaking the law are the uploaders & downloaders of copyrighted material. Going after the P2P network is just easier for the RIAA/others (although wrong.)
How many of you posting, who are cheering on the downfall of the RIAA, pirate quite a bit of your music/movies? My guess is over half.
Stop cheering on the downfall of the RIAA long enough to realize that what you do is illegal (pirating to give the RIAA no cut) and is the reason the RIAA is desperate to file action (even if it targets the wrong individuals.)
To those who are perfectly innocent: +1 ignore the above
Take that MAF-RIAA! now they can STFU cuz I'm gonna move to spain!
I kept rereading the bold article heading trying to figure what P2P network "SPain" was. lol
...it's gonna be a long day...
This is great!Now if we can only kill off the RIAA with extreme prejudice then the world would be so much better.There was Caesar, then there was Vlad Dracula, then there was Hitler, then there was Stalin, then there was Saddam, and now there is the RIAA.
They're all dead.....does that mean...IS THE RIAA GONNA DIE TOO?! =D
For decades the company's make up the RIAA has conspired to keep music prices high. Used cheap media known to have short life spans. Done everything possible to increase profits and in my eyes a cartel. I see this in and of itself illegal.
The company's making up the RIAA are reaping their actions from the past several decades IMHO.
Has the RIAA try to restrict markets? They tried and failed to sue MP3 device makers. Should we see the RIAA sueing P2P as a means to restrict distribution channels? They sued Napster while they was trying to make it a sales channel. Due to this P2P's should not be held responsible or be forced to change.
The RIAA uses any change to music download as admitting of guilt.
I don't illegally download and I suggest anyone else to not. I do suggest boycotting music.
Boycotting music from the company's under the RIAA.*
They've come an aweful long way since the Franco years. ¡Viva España!
One judge not on the bankrolls of the RIAA, good for him, real justice served.
In Spain we have different copyright laws than in the US or other EU countries. When you buy a book, movie (VHS, DVD etc) or song (LP, CD etc) you have the right to make personal copies (security backup, CD to mp3 etc) and you can share this copies if you don't earn money with this action and the receptor owns the original too. P2P only works as vehicle for these purpose.
On the other hand we pay a fee for every VHS, CD, DVD, hard-drive, scanner etc any think that can be used to copy or store all this data. All this money goes to our RIAA (SGAE). So you will pay this fee always, even if you use your CD for those family pics. Where is here the innocence presumption? When you buy a CD you pay because it's assumed that you will use it for copying copyrighted material.
if p2p was ilegal I couldn't even make skype calls lol...