Sweden may rethink ‘piracy’ law
p2pnet news | P2P:- Juliane Kokott (right), advocate general to the European Court of Justice, is on record as saying EU law doesn’t compel telecom companies to hand over details of people said to have shared files with each other.
Lambasted by non-stop pressure from the entertainment cartels, the Swedish government looked set to make it law to provide that kind of information in which case, copyright owners could use it, “to take the file sharers to court,” says The Local.
But that may not happen now, the story says, going on:
“According to Svenska Dagbladet, an opinion published last month by the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice indicates the Swedish plans could break EU law.
“In the opinion, Advocate General Juliane Kokott writes that ‘a direct transferral to copyright owners who wish to carry out civil actions against breaches of their rights is not permitted.’
“She adds that European directives on data protection do not ‘limit the scope of data protection in favour of protection of intellectual property’.”
The Local points out Kokott’s statement, “comes in the case of a Spanish music company, Promusicae, which asked ISP Telefonica to hand over the names of subscribers who distributed its songs over file-sharing networks. If Kokott’s line is followed, it will mean that ISPs are not obliged to reveal personal data in civil litigation cases.”
However, her opinion is no more than that and, “the European Court of Justice could decide to take a different approach when it rules on the case later this year,” adds the post.
Also See:
hand over details – Big Music defeat in Europe, July 18, 2007
The Local – EU court ‘could scupper Swedish piracy law’, August 22, 2007
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