BREIN Loses Again As Dutch Court Rejects Criminal Prosecution For Copyright Infringement

from the not-so-invincible dept

Mon, Feb 3rd 2014 2:03pm — Glyn Moody

Once upon a time, the Dutch "anti-piracy" group BREIN seemed invincible, winning a number of copyright infringement cases. But recently, its winning streak has come to an end. Last week we reported on how BREIN's attempt to block access to The Pirate Bay had been thrown out, and now we have the following case, as reported by TorrentFreak:

A Dutch man who admitted uploading more than 5,000 e-books to The Pirate Bay has had his case dismissed on appeal. The court ruled that the man can't be prosecuted criminally as copyright infringement cases belong in a civil court. Anti-piracy group BREIN is disappointed, but still has the option to pursue the uploader in a civil action.

Even if BREIN wins that action, the appeal court's decision is a serious defeat for the organization. It means BREIN has failed in its attempt to extend the use of criminal courts to cases that do not involve a criminal organization and where the infringements are not carried out as business activities. Had BREIN been successful, that widening of scope would have had a major impact on the Dutch copyright enforcement landscape.

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Filed Under: copyright infringement, criminal, netherlands
Companies: brein

28 Comments

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out_of_the_blue, 3 Feb 2014 @ 2:18pm

So, status quo ante for US and I suppose UK courts.
Without "business activities", meaning money. And that's precisely why The Pirate Bay itself, which DOES get money as a business from advertising infringed content, should be prosecuted, as also Kim Dotcom of Megaupload. Money changes everything. Commercial scale infringement is definitely where to draw the line -- and it'd be enough to hamper you pirates from "over-sharing" with millions of your pals.
Mega-grifter Kim Dotcom got millions by hosting infringed content. That's not even capitalism, that's THEFT. (78 of 195)

10:17:56[l-290-2]
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Glen, 3 Feb 2014 @ 2:20pm

But, but.....THE CHILDREN!!!!

/sarc
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AudibleNod (profile), 3 Feb 2014 @ 2:20pm

Vets
Can't we just get WWII vets to do all this uploading for us?

http://www.ibtimes.com/hyman-strachman-good-guy-pirate-92-year-old-wwii-vet-sends-bootlegged-dvds -troops-abroad-693550
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out_of_the_blue, 3 Feb 2014 @ 2:21pm

I Luv Google!
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 2:22pm

like all entertainment industries and their representative 'collection agencies', BREIN thought/thinks it can keep re-writing the law(s) to suit it's own particular cause. even though it thankfully lost this action, it hasn't given any thought, just like the industries themselves, to the implications. they never think that anything they are doing to win their own cases could come back and bite them, they honestly seem to believe they are all above the law! and when you consider that multiple politicians and governments have been doing everything in their power to assist in this quest, i am not surprised. with the fucktards in the UK parliament taking over from their namesakes in the USA Congress, they still think they are on a winner. i am waiting to see reports of some seriously nasty repercussions when the UK Parliament try to do what those who have built the internet cant! that has got to be worth getting a ring-side seat!!
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S. T. Stone, 3 Feb 2014 @ 2:25pm

Re: So, status quo ante for US and I suppose UK courts.
Money changes everything.

You should know, given how much money you probably get for shilling in favor of the copyright industry. :)
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 2:28pm

Re: So, status quo ante for US and I suppose UK courts.
Theft. You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 2:29pm

At least the Dutch still have enough sense to know the difference between a civil matter and criminal one.
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That One Guy (profile), 3 Feb 2014 @ 2:35pm

Re:
Just shows how crazy and corrupt their courts are, I mean obviously holding someone up at gunpoint, breaking into a store, or assaulting someone is just as serious a crime as downloading/uploading a file, so the fact that they don't consider copyright infringement a criminal offense shows a serious problem with the Dutch justice system! /s
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 2:43pm

Re: Re:
Yeah, all that pot they smoke has really affected their sense of judgement. :)
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 2:44pm

Whenever BREIN loses in court, it just means it's time to pursue Plan B -- getting the law changed.
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sshady1976, 3 Feb 2014 @ 3:23pm

Copyright?
If you ever had a friend copy a cassette tape when you were growing up, then you broke the copyright law too. So join the rest of us and share the knowledge and information freely so everyone can prosper.

Kopimi, Kopiyou, Kopiall.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 3:24pm

It seems like more and more courts are not anymore buying the bullshit from the copyright industries. That is definitely some progress.

these industries tried to go to far. They weren't willing to settle on a status quo that everyone could live with, leaving some grey areas alone, no, they wanted everything, but it doesn't work anymore. regardless, they will try to push further and eventually lose everything.

They are their own undoing.
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sshady1976, 3 Feb 2014 @ 3:34pm

They will never stop it. Every time they try, there will be someone out there :-) to figure a way around there blockade. Pirate Bay, Anon, and others well known will always be there standing by waiting for some idiots to try and censor freedom of speech, free will and the sharing of knowledge.

Kopimi, Kopiyou, Kopiall
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 3:38pm

Re:
you can look at it this way, they provide a service in finding the bugs in the sharing systems, that need to be fixed...
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sshady1976, 3 Feb 2014 @ 3:41pm

Re: Re:
Agreed. 100%.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 4:13pm

Re:
This one is probably going to change legally. Copyright is moving further into criminal law in several european countries and I expect EU will follow that line in the future. It is too expensive for society to have these cases ending in dismissals.
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Ben (profile), 3 Feb 2014 @ 4:23pm

Re:
Well, yes. Some of them must have been children's books.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 5:11pm

Re:
But but......the profit
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 6:41pm

Re: Re:
Or they could just use the proper courts.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 7:35pm

Re: Re:
do you have the list of politicians that have been bought and paid for by the entertainment industry?

You are aware that the TTIP, TPP etc have absolutely no chance of passing don't you?

The world is wising up to the corruption that is propogated by the Entertainment industries.

No one respects copyright anymore due the amount of laws that have been bought and paid for.

Maximalists have made their bed, now they are crying that they have to lay in it. The courts are recognising that the system has been corrupted and are pushing back.

It won't be long before copyright is completely abolished.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2014 @ 8:06pm

Re: Re:
It is more expensive for society to have the Entertainment leeches dictate law and policy.

That cost is a corrupt government that no longer represents the people, but are representatives of corporations who are going to line their pockets.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2014 @ 12:23am

Criminal prosecution for copyright infringement
'This one is probably going to change legally. Copyright is moving further into criminal law in several european countries and I expect EU will follow that
line in the future. It is too expensive for society to have these cases ending in dismissals.�'

Copyright infringement is already a crime in a lot of European countries,.

But this does not make the burden of proof easier but rather more difficult.

In Denmark and Sweden the copyright holders have been far from successful in their efforts to hold people accountable for copyright infringement.

The situation is complicated by the fact that mere possession of works reproduced in violation of copyright is not in itself illegal.

In the Netherlands, acquiring copyrighted works is not illegal but expressly covered by the private copying levy.

And in a criminal case, you always have to prove who did the act.

An IP address is never sufficient proof for a criminal conviction.
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Ninja (profile), 4 Feb 2014 @ 1:15am

Re: So, status quo ante for US and I suppose UK courts.
And that's precisely why The Pirate Bay itself, which DOES get money as a business from advertising infringed content

That's false on so many levels. First the ad revenue of pirate sites has been proven to be incredibly low simply because they get the worst of the worst of the ad services (ie: nobody wants to do business with them) and while we don't know for sure what happens with TPB my experience with 100% of the trackers I go to is they are supported by donations from the community that forms around the sharing platform which is supported by articles here and research all around. Last but not least, even if they do get sweet money they DESERVE it simply because they are providing a SERVICE I want.

as also Kim Dotcom of Megaupload

He made money from offering a storage service that could be shared. And most of the files were found to never have been downloaded as the bogus process against MU developed meaning the service was mostly used for STORING files. Sue Amazon, Google, Microsoft, quick!

Commercial scale infringement is definitely where to draw the line // Mega-grifter Kim Dotcom got millions by hosting infringed content.

Again, there's no commercial activity. The sharing sites offer a service of communication and indexing, the community shares content using their own connections and resources.

it'd be enough to hamper you pirates from "over-sharing" with millions of your pals.

So far the only thing that managed to reduce file sharing was (GASP!) offering the content for fair prices and ease of access (see Netflix, Spotify etc). Not even extremely draconian measures succeeded. Because people will not respect unjust laws. And it's amusing, the most "pals" I ever shared with were about 120 thousand (the largest swarm I've ever been part) and I uploaded only to the ratio of 0.7 at the time. Which means I didn't even share a complete copy. Go educate yourself, all it takes is a 1.0 ratio to keep the thing running. Most people don't go too far past this. Nobody shares with millions. It's just that millions share with millions.

And as always, you are an obnoxious moron.

Note: my bad for feeding the dipshit, sometimes I fail to resist ;)
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Ninja (profile), 4 Feb 2014 @ 1:16am

Re: Re: So, status quo ante for US and I suppose UK courts.
Mega-grifter Kim Dotcom got millions by hosting infringed content.

This should have paired with the other Dotcom phrase..
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Odd Man Out, 4 Feb 2014 @ 1:26am

Laws, Bribery and Law-Makers - Words of Wisdom
And you shall take no gift: for the gift blinds the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous.� Also you shall not oppress a stranger: for all of you know the heart of a stranger....

You shall not shift judgment; you shall not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

A wicked man takes a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.�

A king, by justice, shall establish a land,�but, a man open to bribes, bringeth it to ruin.

Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come unto them.�

These are old words that the leaders and rulers of today should take heed of, but they being who they be, won't see anything but the bribes laid before them.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2014 @ 1:37pm

Re: Re: Re:
I think you are underestimating how many people and how much money is pushing the other way. While I think you may be right about the direction (not abolishing though!), the current situation is still that some politicians see people going against ACTA as a misinformation campaign and that there is a definite need for stronger copyright in the future as the increasing amounts of lobbying groups keep telling them. The council to some extend and the commission for sure has 0 respect for the opinions you hold.
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btrussell (profile), 4 Feb 2014 @ 6:12pm

Had BREIN been successful, that widening of scope would have had a major impact on the global copyright enforcement landscape.

FTFY
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