p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- FTD, the largest Usenet community in The Netherlands, is suing Hollywood / Big Music factotum BREIN.

BREIN, the “Protection Rights Entertainment Industry Netherlands,” bills itself as the “central contact for government, law enforcement, trade and media in the Netherlands with respect to all issues concerning the unauthorised copying and distribution of entertainment products both offline and online,” also pointing out BREIN is the Dutch word for ‘brain’.

That would, of course, be as in brain-dead.

The  entertainment cartel hit outfit has, “taken action against many Usenet and BitTorrent sites including Demonoid and Mininova,” says FTD activities are illegal, says enigmax in TorrentFreak, going on:

“Angered by these claims, FTD is now taking BREIN to court to force it to eat its words.”

BREIN’s main mouthperson is Tim Kuik (right) and in January this year, Dutch publication Volkskrant ran an article about Usenet.

It was entitled You do not pay for it, it`s unlawful and quotes Kuik as saying, “Although they [FTD] are not carrying illegal content on their servers, what FTD does is simply criminal,” states Enigmax, going on »»»

FTD is a perfectly legal activity, said FTD director Ronald Sievers, a point on which his legal team agrees.

BREIN`s claims are built on legal quicksand, says FTD lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet. They speak of `facilitation` and the structural use of the availability of unauthorized downloads, as if it were a foregone conclusion that this is prohibited. Nothing could be further from the truth. Furthermore, FTD only facilitates communication between people who quite legally download from Usenet. FTD does not facilitate or carry out any upload and therefore can not be held liable.

So, supported by two Dutch copyright lawyers and IT experts, FTD have filed a lawsuit against BREIN in which they request the court clarifies these points;

1. That downloading is legal in the Netherlands, even if the uploader committed copyright infringement when he uploaded the material.
2. That directing users to content on Usenet via FTD is legal, even if the material was put there without permission of the copyright holders.
3. That FTD is acting within the law, considering the above.
4. That there is no need for FTD to filter any of the reports its users create which refer to the location of content on the Internet
5. That FTD does not have to remove any of these reports, unless BREIN makes a correct and formal complaint.

Of course, FTD also want a retraction of BREIN`s statement that FTD is illegal. FTD require a public statement correcting this and wants a declaration from the court that they were simply acting legally, it said in a statement.

Additionally, Kuik also reckons “what FTD do is clearly punishable,” to which, adds TorrentFreak, FTD lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet  responds, “A correction of this should be published on BREIN`s homepage too.”

Stay tuned.

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May, 2009