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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."
Now if only American court rooms cared at all about the "public interest", rather than the special interests that have so much power, maybe we'd start seeing similar sound-mindedness.
The RIAA should be forced to take these cases to Small Claims Court, where they would have little to no subpoena power, be limited in the amount of award, and have to explain to crusty, overworked judges why they're wasting their time.
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
I'm glad the German government / courts have some common sense unlike their American counter-parts. First Scientology now this!
Hooray for Germany! Is it still bad to say this?
This is my sig.
Bombing of Berlin will start in 24 hours. Dick Cheny and President Bush decided that the German government is not in the best interests of the USA and must be stopped.
"we are bringing freedom to all of the euopean continent" Dick cheny said after he bit the head off a chicken and sucked the blood out.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
What this decision says that's really important is that file sharing isn't the big deal the RIAA affiliated companies -- and Elton John -- make it out to be. And the losses due to a few files shared isn't HUGE AMOUNTS OF DOLLARS, like the RIAA sues for. And that there are other crimes that are far more damaging to society than guaranteeing a profit forever (Sonny Bono Copyright Extension into Eternity Act) for an old industry in a new age. And that the public prosecutors don't work for free for the record industry any longer.
Nice to hear someone say all that.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Thank heaven the Germans still know what it means.
Dog is my co-pilot.
And once it went out of copyright there, it would be cut free out into the world.
Talk about something to really scare the record companies.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Yet another country passes us on the personal freedom issue.
It's only paranoia if your wrong...
It is interesting that you compare the RIAA to storm troopers. Each are just as likely to hit their target.
Write your own Choose Your Own Adventure. http://www.freegameengines.org/gamebook-engine/
On the other hand Germany had its greatest and best musicans, when Copyright (or Author's Right) was virtually nonexistant: Heinrich Schütz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Pachelbel, Philipp Telemann, Georg Friedrich Händel, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Josef Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Robert Schumann...
I don't know if it exists in German, but in the english language there is an old expression for this kind of court decision. It's called "common sense" and seems to be all but extinct these days.
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
Mozart died penniless, because he was spending his money everywhere. He gambled, and when he and his family went on a way with a coach, there was a second coach accompanying him with his piano, so he could play whenever inspiration got him. He had literally hundreds of toupets, and coats.
;)
Mozart demanded three florins for a hour of music education he gave. The maid who was working for him and his wife, got 12 florins per annum as a salary. So basicly with half a day of work he made as much as normal people in a year.
Later one his widow died with a wealth of five million florins, just because of the income from her late husbands work. It was not the income thad made Mozart penniless.
Riiiight.... and the abundance of those "muslim terroists", "turbin-headed children" and "women killers" in Hamburg and the whole of Germany explains the huge number of terroist attacks in Germany, doesn't it? Which is, by the way, ZERO for at least the last 10 years. Geez, what the hell are you talking about? And what is "the Bundesfraus" supposed to be? That word doesn't even exist in german language (and yes, german is my native language).