Is Nvidia Playing Fair With Their New Development Tools?

Labels Decide Not To Appeal Spanish Court Ruling That Found P2P File Sharing Software Perfectly Legal

from the but-expect-political-pressure dept

Fri, May 30th 2014 7:39pm — Mike Masnick

In April, we wrote about an important court ruling in Spain that found that Pablo Soto's P2P file sharing software, Blubster, was "perfectly legal", because the software was "neutral" and a part of "free enterprise within the framework of a market economy." In that post, we went through the entire history of earlier court rulings that had similarly suggested that file sharing software shouldn't be blamed for how people used it, and the US's aggressive pressure that forced Spain to pass multiple new copyright laws to try to reverse such rulings. All of that appeared to be for nothing, as the courts still recognized the silliness of blaming software for how people use it.

Francisco George alerts us to the news that the major labels who were the plaintiffs in the case have -- somewhat surprisingly -- chosen not to appeal the ruling, giving Soto a somewhat definitive win. Of course, the recording industry isn't exactly known for giving up in fights like these, so expect some other shoe to drop in the near future. If the labels feel that the courts still won't twist the law towards their own views, it seems likely that we'll soon see yet another attempt to change copyright laws in Spain.

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Filed Under: copyright, file sharing, liability, pablo soto, secondary liability, spain
Companies: blubster

13 Comments

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That One Guy (profile), 30 May 2014 @ 5:59pm

Tactical withdrawal
Losing in the court would set precedent that could be used in future P2P software cases, and even potentially used against future attempts to get the laws changed in their favor, better for them to 'retreat' temporarily, put on the political pressure, and get a few laws passed/changed in their favor, then try again when their odds in court are better.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 May 2014 @ 9:21pm

Yes let's try and ban web browsers too.they're used for uploading/downloading to.

Why just now you used it to download this very comment!
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afn29129 (profile), 31 May 2014 @ 12:56am

FTP, Zmodem, Zmodem-90, and Kermit, etc.
FTP, Zmodem, Zmodem-90,and Kermit, etc.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 May 2014 @ 1:10am

the fight back has probably stopped because, if the labels (and studios) get their way, and take over complete control of the internet, then they are going to be reliant on torrents to be able to deliver their services. all they say are illegal and causing massive financial harm to them atm will overnight become the dogs bollocks of protocols that everyone must have and use! funny how a turn like that can decide the status of something, isn't it? had they have used their brains and embraced the protocol originally, almost none of what has happened/is happening would have! as it is, they continue to punish ordinary people for the industries screw ups! talk about self centered! and this is made worse by politicians who are helping the industries to do it!
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Anonymous Coward, 31 May 2014 @ 5:36am

I predict that the labels will now go running to the US government to get Spain re enlisted on the USTR 301 special report if Spain is not already on it citing that Spain is causing serious damages to the copyright industry with allowing software/tools that make it very easy to commit copyright theft. The labels will no doubt insist that Spain should only be removed from the USTR 301 special report when all software/tools that can be used to commit copyright infringement to be made illegal in Spain.

If Spain does get put back on the USTR 301 special report then it will show that the labels cannot accept something that is perfectly legal. They had the chance to appeal the decision of the court but chose not too so therefore they accept the fact that the software/program is not illegal but by getting Spain back on the USTR 301 special report will show their hypocrisy.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 May 2014 @ 6:54am

Re:
Hilarious that they never went after the best music sharing p2p program, starts with an S, or a N..
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kenichi tanaka (profile), 31 May 2014 @ 4:40pm

Who actually believes that the big labels won't appeal? That's what they do best.
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zip, 31 May 2014 @ 5:54pm

Grokster, AllofMP3
Let's not forget that nearly a decade ago Grokster had basically won its court battle (twice over) against the entertainment industry, when the US Supreme Court overturned Grokster's win -- more or less declaring P2P tools illegal (and thereby nullifying the Sony vs. 'Hollywood' ruling) and causing every US-based commercial P2P company (except LimeWire) to immediately shut down.

Blubster will end up being be a repeat of AllofMP3, the low-cost Russian music service that won in court, but ultimately lost when the US government stepped into the ring and threatened trade sanctions against Russia.
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GEMont (profile), 31 May 2014 @ 8:52pm

New Regime Time
"If the labels feel that the courts still won't twist the law towards their own views, it seems likely that we'll soon see yet another attempt to change copyright laws in Spain."

That, or just as likely, another attempt to change the government of Spain.
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z, 31 May 2014 @ 10:54pm

Re: New Regime Time
... still better than the way the governments of Serbia, Iraq, Libya, TheUkraine, and countless others were changed
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That One Guy (profile), 1 Jun 2014 @ 12:26pm

Re:
Because they're both lazy and risk averse, and getting Spain thrown on the 301 list has shown to be quite effective in getting the politicians over there to bow to US company whims in the past, so why go through all the hassle and uncertainty of court, when they can just get the politicians to do their work for them?
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Anonymous Howard (profile), 2 Jun 2014 @ 3:40am

USTR 301 special report
Worth: slightly less then the paper it's printed on.
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GEMont (profile), 2 Jun 2014 @ 12:17pm

Re: Re: New Regime Time
hmmmm..... apparently the king of Spain has just quit his job.... I wonder if he'll be retiring in California....

Oh well, once the American Government; commonly referred to as Wall Street, finishes buying the Spanish politicians off, I guess it really won't make any difference what form the Spanish government takes. It'll be just another department of the American Fascist Business Bureau, like the governments of so many other countries around the globe.

One World Government, one government at a time.
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