Usenet Community FTD Not Guilty For Linking To Content... But For Promoting Uploads
from the hmm dept
We found it a bit troubling earlier this year when a Dutch court found that Usenet community FTD was guilty of copyright infringement because its users merely linked to Usenet locations where unauthorized copies of movies resided. An appeals court has now apparently reversed much of that decision -- noting that just linking to infringing works is not infringement, and that downloading for personal use is also not infringement. However, it oddly still kept the injunction on FTD because it claimed that FTD promoted unauthorized uploads, saying that most "spotters" (who point out where the files are) also are uploaders. Of course, as we had noted recently, the movie studio's "evidence" on this was that one of its own investigators uploaded and spotted a film.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: copyright, linking, netherlands, usenet
Companies: ftd
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
so by this ruling
add your own example thats about as mentally challenged as the entire ruling.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
p.s. this is a direct shot at the judical bench
[ link to this | view in thread ]
What this was, was a place were people could tell others that a certain file was spotted on Usenet. And then discuss the finds, such as rate its quality.
Often the spotters were also the ones who uploaded the files, but that upload was not done through any of FTDs services. As FTD doesn't offer any such service.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: p.s. this is a direct shot at the judical bench
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Don't know what they're thinking
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: p.s. this is a direct shot at the judical bench
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
You're doing it wrong. It's MY ID10T5....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: You're doing it wrong. It's MY ID10T5....
Also, who's betting the judge was paid to leave that in? :p
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: p.s. this is a direct shot at the judical bench
[ link to this | view in thread ]