[Ecommerce] ISP liability for downloading [Belgian court case]

[Michelle Childs]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]


Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Cornelia Kutterer"
> for your info!
>
> Cornelia
>
> Belgian court rules against internet provider in download case
> 10.07.2007 - 17:43 CET | By Helena Spongenberg
> EUOBSERVER / CREATIVE RIGHTS =96 A Belgian court has ruled that one
> of its national internet service providers must install a filter to
> prevent its internet users from illegally downloading music.
>
> The Belgian society of authors, composers and publishers (SABAM)
> recently won its three-year long legal battle with Belgian internet
> service provider Scarlet Extended in which SABAM demanded that the
> provider used technical measures to stop internet users illegally
> downloading musical repertoire via peer-to-peer (P2P) software.
>
>
> "We are happy with the decision but there is still a lot of work to
> do," said SABAM spokesman Thierry Dachelet.
>
> The society will in the coming days and week discuss the next step,
> which could include taking more Belgian internet service providers
> (ISPs) to court.
>
> "We have received a lot of support from authors' societies like in
> France, Spain, Portugal and others including US ones," Mr Dachelet
> told EUobserver.
>
> Support from the record companies
> The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) -
> which represents hundreds of record companies worldwide - said the
> case could set a precedent for the international fight against piracy.
>
> "This is an extremely significant ruling which bears out exactly
> what we have been saying for the last two years - that the
> internet's gatekeepers, the ISPs, have a responsibility to help
> control copyright-infringing traffic on their networks," said head
> of the IFPI John Kennedy.
>
> "This is a decision that we hope will set the mould for government
> policy and for courts in other countries in Europe and around the
> world," he stated after the ruling.
>
> Until now, the few cases that have been prosecuted across Europe
> have targeted individuals illegally uploading music and other files
> on the internet rather than the ISPs providing online access to do so.
>
> Peer-to-peer file-sharing is estimated to cost the music industry
> billions of euro each year in revenues it could have made from
> legal and paid-for downloads or CD sales. The IFPI estimates that
> there were some 20 billion illegal files shared on P2P networks in
> 2006 - about 20 times the number of legal music downloads.
>
> Rights owners get legal help
> Meanwhile, in Sweden, the country's justice department has proposed
> that copyright-, patent- and trade-mark owners should be able to
> request a court to force ISPs to give out the identity =96 the IP
> number =96 of internet users who have infringed their rights.
>
> At the moment, only the police and prosecutors in the Nordic
> country can demand the identity of the file sharers.
>
> "That way it will be easier to intervene in illegal file sharing,
> which in turn stimulates the development of legal alternatives for
> the online spread of movies and music," the Swedish justice
> department said in a statement on Monday (9 July).
>
> The Swedish move comes in connection with Stockholm's
> implementation of an EU intellectual property enforcement directive
> from 2004.
>
> The UK may also act on ISPs by the end of the year. A 2006 report
> on intellectual property for the UK treasury department suggested
> ways ISPs could limit copyright infringement.
>
> It noted that if they cannot reduce copyright violations on their
> networks by the end of 2007, the UK government should consider
> legislation that would compel them to do so.
>
> http://euobserver.com/9/24451?rss_rk=3D1
>
>

Michelle Childs
Head of European Affairs
Knowledge Ecology International
michelle.childs@cptech.org