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Swedish Court Clears Teen for Linking to MP3s
mml writes "Earlier this year a 17 year old in Skövde, Sweden was
charged with various offences relating to linking
pirated MP3s.
Yesterday (Monday 27. December 1999), the court in
Göta, Sweden,
decided
that "it is legal to have links
to pirated music on a homepage in Sweden if the
links are to a server in a country where it isn't
illegal to pirate music." (Metro 28. December 1999, p. 16)
The article also says that the 17 year old was cleared
mostly on the basis that the prosecution had not convinced
the court that most of the links went to the US.
Slashdot ran
the original story and a
followup in September. "
This ruling is really interesting in that it exposes the huge problem of how international law is affected by the Internet.
:) is clearly in the right on this, and the decision appears to have been a wise one.
Obviously, there's no simple solution for problems like this. Sweden (as always
But it won't be long until the tables are turned against us with similar rulings. (Violations of copyleft or something.) The only method of fixing this, or so it appears, is establishing firmer international copyright laws and forming governmental forces that extend beyond the borders of any one country.
It's funny that US lawmakers seem to think that they can tax goods purchased over the Internet. That would involve all of them agreeing on a given method and value of tax, along with figuring out what state(s) get the revenue.
If they can't agree on this, how will we ever get 180+ countries to agree on copyright law?
Bork. Bork. Bork.
Quickie translation of the Metro article:
THE COURTS OF APPEALS FREED IN CASE AGAINST "MUSIC PIRATE"
1999-12-27 19:39
JÖNKÖPING
Showing the way to pirated music on the Internet is not a crime. It first has to be shown that the music has been published on the Internet without permission.
This judgment is done by Göta hovrätt (court of appeals), which on Monday freed a 17-year old that had been charged with illegal distribution of music on the Internet.
The reason that the 17-year old boy from Falköping, Sweden, had links to pirated music on his homepage was that he wanted to impress his friends. It was important to him to get as many visitors as possible. Something he did well, in just a few months time several thousand people visited the homepage.
-We thought the court of appeals would convict the youth, said a disappointed Lars Gustafsson, president of the record industry federation IFPI, who thinks about appealing again to the Swedish Supreme Court.
WITHOUT PERMISSION
- We learn even from sentences like this that goes against us. Next time we will of course show that the person publishing the music on the Internet did so without permission, and then the pirate will be convicted at least for collaboration, says Lars Gustafsson.
IFPI, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, is focused on enforcing the rights that the copyright law gives. The organisation represents more than 50 record companies that together has more than 95 percent of the Swedish music market. In later years, more and more pirated music in so called MP3-files has been distributed electronically on the net.
- I think the Internet in time will become a superior technical aid to distribute good music legally. But it takes a few years before justice catches up to technology.
SENTENCED TO PRISON
Lars Gustafsson says to TT that it during the last few months several judgments have been passed, both in Europe and the USA, where people have been sentenced to prison for distributing music on the Internet.
In the case at hand the visitors on the homepage got a pointer to different web sites where the sound files were stored. The music files never passed through the 17-year old's computer but was sent directly to the visitor's computer. Thus he did not publish the music in the sense that is meant in the Copyright law, says the Court of appeals.
On the other hand, says the court, the 17-year old could be forced to pay damages to the music right owners.
- We don't have any plans on asking for damages. We are not after this boy as a person, but the phenomenon as such, says Lars Gustafsson from IFPI.
Cecilia Anderson Edwall/TT
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