Holland nixes download law
p2pnet news | P2P:- A Dutch court has decided the government was wrong when it said downloading was OK.
The court ruled against an interpretation of a copyright law which allowed downloading of copyrighted materials, according to WebWereld Netherlands.
“An explanation by the minister and government, which concludes that a private copy from an illegal source should be considered to be legal, is violating [the law],” it says.
“The Netherlands currently have a unique legal situation where downloading of copyrighted materials is allowed and only uploading is forbidden,” the story states, going on:
“The judge now ruled that when the original source is illegal, any copies too should be considered illegal.”
Holland’s situation is not, though, unique.
Canada permits downloading for personal use, although an entertainment industry inspired Canadian DMCA seeks to change that, creating a massive backlash from Canadians.
In Holland, “The Dutch justice minister in 2006 created the exception to allow for the pragmatic enforcement of copyright laws,” says WebWereld Netherlands.
A law similar to the US Home recording act, “allows consumers to make copies of CDs and other media that they had legally purchased,” and, “Since it is impossible to verify if a user downloading a file was entitled to do so under the Home Recording Act, all downloading was sanctioned.”
Adds the post:
“Legal experts cautioned that the consequences of the ruling have yet to be determined. In addition to a ban on downloading copyrighted materials, parties could also decide to increase copy levies on rewritable CDs and DVDs or expand such levies to other media such as hard drives and hard disk recorders.”
.
.Stumble It!
WebWereld Netherlands – Dutch court rules against law that allowed file downloading, June 27, 2008
massive backlash – Jim Prentice: still touting Canadian DMCA, June 19, 2008
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Download here.
June 27th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
In late 2001, NL court ruled against Kazaa BV – reversed on appeal. But by then the infamous P2P network had been sold to Sharman in Australia.
June 28th, 2008 at 3:16 am
“A law similar to the US Home recording act, “allows consumers to make copies of CDs and other media that they had legally purchased,” and, “Since it is impossible to verify if a user downloading a file was entitled to do so under the Home Recording Act, all downloading was sanctioned.”
So downloading music is legal in US?