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German Prosecutors Won't Help RIAA Counterpart
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "A German court decision ruled that the European counterpart to the RIAA cannot invoke criminal proceedings over petty file sharing incidents. The goal was to to find out from ISPs the identity of alleged file-sharing subscribers; the requests have been refused as the judge saw the the proceedings as not in the 'public interest', and little or no economic damage was shown to have been caused to the record companies. Offering a few copyright-protected music tracks via a P2P network client was 'a petty offense,' the court declared. Within days, German prosecutors have now indicated that they will no longer permit the use of 'criminal proceedings' to procure subscriber information."
I don't know about you, but I'm unimpressed that the Germans seem quite happy to goose-step all over intellectual property law.
So it's no surprise a judge would rule that it's ok to steal music in Germany. Germany isn't losing much revenue because German music sucks and no one listens to it. Germany actually profits from stealing other countries' music.
OHHO HAHAHAHAHAH HAH OH HO HAH HOOOHEEE HAW HAW! Your so funny! You should be a professional comedian! I mean it! No, seriously, you should! Your prediction of what Dick Cheney would say was SPOT THE FUCK ON, GOOD SIR!
So, a song is 99 cents on iTunes. Since illegal trading of songs is petty if they are a "few" that means everyone can go everywhere and steal a "few" things that are worth very little from all these judges, and expect to use this ruling as a basis for having any criminal case dismissed, right?
I mean, trading music, when you don't own the media, is illegal in a lot of places....what's the difference if I steal your 79 cent taco from your lunch tray and eat it...it's "petty" right?
Fucking retards.
sieg heil