Swedish Court Gets One Right: Won't Shut Down OpenBitTorrent

from the about-time dept

Wed, Dec 2nd 2009 7:51pm — Mike Masnick

With the movie industry's lawyers recently demanding that ISP Portlane shut down the OpenBitTorrent tracker, claiming (without any evidence) that it was just a rebranded version of The Pirate Bay's tracker, it seemed possible that the Swedish courts would roll over again. However, in a bit of a surprise, the court has pointed out that it's a big stretch to hold the ISP liable without more evidence, and has refused to order the shutdown of OpenBitTorrent. Nice to see that the courts don't always just accept what the movie industry says without further examination.

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Filed Under: bittorrent, openbittorrent, sweden
Companies: openbittorrent

19 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2009 @ 8:37pm

Just a tool
A tracker is just a tool. You don't see RIAA, MPAA, and others suing DVD Rom makers for supplying a tool.
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- ChadBroChill (profile), 2 Dec 2009 @ 8:45pm
  
  Re: Just a tool
  also, the **IA are tools
  
  is that irony?
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2009 @ 8:53pm
  
  Re: Just a tool
  A tracker is a tool, the first and required step in the process of violating copyright.
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  - DaveTheLibraryGeek (profile), 2 Dec 2009 @ 9:05pm
    
    Re: Re: Just a tool
    A tracker is a tool, the first and required step in the process of violating copyright.
    
    or
    
    A photocopier is a tool, the first and required step in the process of violating copyright.
    
    or
    
    A VCR is a tool, the first and required step in the process of violating copyright.
    
    or
    
    A cassette recorder is a tool, the first and required step in the process of violating copyright.
    
    or
    
    A floppy disk is a tool, the first and required step in the process of violating copyright.
    
    I seem to see a flaw in your logic, but I'll be damned if I can pinpoint where...
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    - Anonymous Coward, 3 Dec 2009 @ 7:24am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Just a tool
      Yawn, the same old saw, and the same old tired comments.
      
      The objective of a tracker? To share files. What are the vast majority of the files? pirated copies.
      
      Call me when you find that the vast majority of work done by the office photocopies is in pirated copies.
      
      Otherwise, well. you are just spewing the same old nonsense meant to cover up the reality that most torrent sites are intentionally trading stolen goods.
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      - Anonymous Coward, 3 Dec 2009 @ 8:17am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Just a tool
        "The objective of a tracker? To share files. What are the vast majority of the files? pirated copies."
        
        A tracker knows not whether a file is copyrighted or not. A knife was designed to be used as a tool to cut meat. It is also the weapon of choice for many murderers. Are we to lock up all the knife makers of the world?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2009 @ 9:08pm
    
    Re: Re: Just a tool
    Just like a person is the first and required existence to commit a crime.
    
    I know, let's kill all the people!
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  - Paul`, 2 Dec 2009 @ 9:11pm
    
    Re: Re: Just a tool
    Wrong. There is at least one way I know of to use bit torrent programs without using a tracker. Also, you are assuming that the ONLY thing bit torrent trackers are used for is copyright infringement which is stupidly incorrect.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2009 @ 9:24pm
    
    Re: Re: Just a tool
    "I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." - Another Tool
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  - Anonymous Coward, 4 Dec 2009 @ 7:31am
    
    Re: Re: Just a tool
    you know there as been copyright violations long before bit torrent and the internet ,right?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2009 @ 9:08pm

The first step is creating content that could be pirated. Therefore, the **IA are guilty of supporting infringement and should be shut down.
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2009 @ 9:23pm
  
  Re:
  If they're shut down then what would the pirates steal? By the gods, I've solved the piracy problem!
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  - Josh (profile), 2 Dec 2009 @ 10:21pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Why, we'll have to start stealing things like rum and booty! And possibly parrots!
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    - Chargone (profile), 2 Dec 2009 @ 10:53pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      to be fair, the parrots are asking for it...
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2009 @ 10:27pm

Until Asus started using torrents to distribute their hardware drivers, it would me hours or days, sometimes not at all, to download a couple drivers from their site, now it is quick and simple, making my job more productive, as well as a savings to my customers.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2009 @ 11:42pm

But as we know, every victory just seems to proceed 2 defeats so I wouldn't get too excited...
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Tor (profile), 2 Dec 2009 @ 11:55pm

I find it strange that the court views this in a different manner than in the Pirate Bay case where running the tracker was one of the three parts for which they were found guilty.

I hope someone will post the court's protocol. It would be interesting to see how they motivate this decision.
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- drewmerc (profile), 3 Dec 2009 @ 12:10am
  
  Re:
  this one has the word open in it
  the other had pirate
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theorangebox, 4 Dec 2009 @ 4:19am

mafiaa
Fuck the RIAA, and the MPAA
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