Another Court Ruling In Spain Finds Personal File Sharing To Be Legal

from the no-profit-motive dept

Tue, Jun 2nd 2009 5:44am — Mike Masnick

While the entertainment industry has been working over time to try to stop file sharing in Spain, court ruling after court ruling has found that personal file sharing is perfectly reasonable and legal -- and that sites that merely link to content rather than host it (i.e., search engines and trackers) aren't breaking copyright law either. In the latest such case, a judge found that a guy who downloaded and shared over 3,000 movies wasn't violating copyright law, because it was all for personal use with no intent to profit.

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Filed Under: file sharing, legality, personal use, spain

22 Comments

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Tgeigs (profile), 2 Jun 2009 @ 6:17am

Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my file sharing. Prepare to die.
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Steven Randal, 2 Jun 2009 @ 6:22am

comment
The times have changed and it's time for the record and movie companies to face the facts. Good article!
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minijedimaster (profile), 2 Jun 2009 @ 6:41am

Re:
LOL, nice.
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Rebel Freek (profile), 2 Jun 2009 @ 7:05am

Re:
lol
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Korrosive, 2 Jun 2009 @ 7:11am

LOL
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Kevin Stapp (profile), 2 Jun 2009 @ 7:16am

Re:
*giggle*
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Kevin Stapp (profile), 2 Jun 2009 @ 7:18am

Interesting. If you download a 'legal' copy of a movie or song while in Spain then come back to the USA, is your copy a legal copy?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2009 @ 7:22am

LOL!

Is Spain a safe harbor now? If torrent sites, fans, and filesharers aren't punished there, won't this really let the cat out of the bag?
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Designerfx (profile), 2 Jun 2009 @ 7:23am

Re:
good question, although likely the argument would be a: where you reside is your jurisdiction vs b: where you performed the act was legal thus it is.

Most courts tend to go with B, as that happens in many situations such as when laws of one state conflict with another. It's pretty well established, and it's unfortunately why things like tax avoidance via overseas are not pursued in court often.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2009 @ 7:41am

Because is not for profit and 270 million € has already been paid in advance.
There is a leave in CD, DVD, Hard Disk, Mobile Phones, MP3 players.... calculated so at least that amount is obtained by the collection agencies to be "distributed" among the authors to compensate them from the personal not for profit copies.

And if they get more than that they are suppose to tell us so we reduce it in a couple of year but no need to show us the accounts we have confidence that the collection agencies would never cheat.

Like getting the money for it and try to send the people to jail at the same time.
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madjo (profile), 2 Jun 2009 @ 8:19am

Re:
Yes, the collection agency want to eat their cake and still have it.
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CStrube (profile), 2 Jun 2009 @ 8:28am

Anyone know a good open proxy in Spain?
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Your Mamma, 2 Jun 2009 @ 8:54am

Its about friggin time
Its about time!!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2009 @ 9:14am

"because it was all for personal use with no intent to profit."

This is what crosses my mind when I think of copyright laws. How and why are you going after people that do not "steal" your stuff when they aren't making money off of it?
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 2 Jun 2009 @ 9:59am

Re:
Because they feel that every person who downloads for free would have paid if they couldn't download for free. Therefore, the sale was lost due to 'piracy'.

Furthermore, they think, if 'piracy' were gone they'd have made $20 off of you, but since 'piracy' is a viable option, they are making $0 off of you. So you "stole" $20 from them.

Even worse, because you didn't pay them the $20 you would have paid them had the internet never been created you owe them $150,000.

Per song.

It's horribly flawed to the point of insanity, but that's their story and they're sticking to it.
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Simon, 2 Jun 2009 @ 10:16am

Re: Re:
Additionally, you took the $20 you didn't pay them, shredded it and then burnt it. Thus damaging the whole economy.
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Tgeigs (profile), 2 Jun 2009 @ 10:33am

Re: Re: Re:
Plus they're fairly certain you're a sheep-humping transvestite...
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Jason, 2 Jun 2009 @ 10:54am

Re:
EVERYBODY SING WITH ME!!:

Yo ho, haul together
hoist the colors high...
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hegemon13, 2 Jun 2009 @ 12:10pm

Re: Re:
It also goes the other way. One can legally buy marijuana in Amsterdam, but they can't then bring it back to the US and have it be legal. An 18-year-old can buy beer in Germany, but they can't bring it back to the US. So, it depends. In the US, is possession of infringing copies a crime, or just distribution? That has not been absolutely decided in court, but the outcome would determine the answer here.
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Rebel Freek (profile), 2 Jun 2009 @ 12:59pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
With the ability to run through their studios naked holding a dead baby in one hand and a burning bible in the other.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2009 @ 3:00pm

Last laugh to the media companies, who are collecting the "tarif" on blank media and the like.

Nothing is free. That is just an illusion, making you not see the cost because you didn't take the money out of your pocket right this instant.
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Tgeigs (profile), 3 Jun 2009 @ 6:21am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Mmmm, dead burning bible...
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