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

from the but-expect-political-pressure dept

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.

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