Swedish IP News
Sweden-March 2009
Well, what do you make of a name like ‘Pirate Bay’? To many of those who were thinking of the movie about pirates, they could have been forgiven when they think it refers to a movie, but to those millions who download files using peer to peer programs, the name is synonymous with free downloads. Whatever it amounts to, the people operating Pirate Bay’s website is in hot soup because they have been brought to court for copy right infringements in a Swedish court. And the world is watching closely.
The site using BitTorrent peer to peer technology is on trial for being accused of infringing on film and music copyrights. However, public prosecutors decreased the number of charges against the site after acknowledging that there was no copying of other people’s work and a verdict is pending. It is evident that the site does not host the disputed files as it uses a technique in which copied files are found in the user’s server. So technically, BitTorrent is not the party that is copying. But the Federation of Phonographic Industry and the Motion Picture Association of America who together filed proceedings argued other wise and accused BitTorrent of facilitating wide scale infringements.
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The catch word is ‘illegal distribution’ and this case was quite different from the previous cases where copied files were hosted on the accused’s server. And was there a case for BitTorrent of profiting from the venture? Many questions have to be answered, but whatever the verdict, it would have a great impact on the peer to peer technology that has a great promise, even one that is considered to be used by the USPTO to alleviate the backlogs of patent files under review.
New tools to fight piracy?
Sweden has enacted a new law based on the European Union’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive or IPRED that will requires Internet service providers in the country to reveal subscribers' Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to copyright holders. And people from the film, music and computer games industries are watching with abated interest. Just how effective is it?
According to data from received from Netnod, the company responsible for the operation of internet exchanges in 5 Swedish cities, internet usage dipped by at least 30% when the law came into effect recently. It was believed that much of the reduced traffic was the result from internet file sharers downloading pirated versions of files. Could IPRED be the answer for the rest of the world? Just what does the law state? In IPRED, it stipulates that property rights holders can take their grievances to a court, which will examine the evidence, and decide whether the IP address can be released. From there, the copyright holder can then send a warning letter to the subscriber, giving them a warning to desist or face court action.
Anyway, it is still too early to know whether IPRED is effective or not, as file down loaders might just suspend their activities and wait for clearer signals before continuing their activities again. Then again, there is such a thing as using a foreign anonymous server to hide the file sharer’s internet protocol address!
Will Pirate Bay still go on?
In a recent court decision in Stockholm, the operators of Pirate Bay were convicted of online piracy. Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Fredrik Neij were together fined about 3.58 million dollars besides having to go to jail for one year. It is understood that all four will appeal, who had also called the verdict “the dice court”. They also said Pirate Bay will continue operating and there will be demonstrations organized by “Piratpartiet“ to protest the court’s decision. “Piratpartiet” or Pirate Party will also stand in the EU’s June election! Yes, perhaps there will be a wind of change as the Pirate Bay’s followers numbered in the millions, scattered almost everywhere throughout the world.
April 18 2009
The Pirate Bay party, a Swedish political party formed to 'to fundamentally reform copyright law, get rid of the patent system, and ensure that citizens' rights to privacy are respected,' has won a seat in the June 2009 European parliamentary election. It is also the third largest party in Sweden, and people, especially those of the younger age are watching its every step. Ever since its founder members were convicted for intellectual property piracy, it has gain a lot of mileage from younger people who had been sidelined and peeved by big media corporations. It does not believe that intellectual property should be bought and sold by the dozen.
There are three things that it wants to put right and they are:-
1) All non commercial copying and use should be completely free from their publishing date. All commercial copyrights should be only given a five year protection and file sharing for private use should be allowed.2) A complete ban on DRM and other similar restricting forms
3) Pharmaceutical patents should be restricted and even banned as they are encouraging the spread of lethal diseases by not allowing affordable generics to be used in third world countries.
It also believes that Europe should be better off by removing all forms of intellectual property protections and that everyone living on this earth should be accorded the right of privacy. Sort of a brand new World System!
June 10th 2009
IFPI is going to a Swedish court now
The American based music recording industry group IFPI has begun submitting a request to the Stockholm District Court to force an ISP to hand over the personal details of file-sharer. This is the first time the IPRED legislation will be tested. It was noted that the IPRED law caused a reduction in internet traffic when it came into force in April. Evidence supporting alleged illegal file-sharers was submitted. However, the alleged file sharer is a Direct Connect Hub where a whole music file was shared, as compared to a single file sharing as is common for Bit Torrent accounts. Maybe they are extra careful for their test case as failing will exact bad consequences. Will there be prosecution or just a warning? We will see.
December 10, 2009
Swedish music sales increase
Sweden reported a ten percent increase in music sale revenues for 2009, as compared to other countries that had a negative decline like those in the UK and US. This was a surprise as music companies had faced illegal music downloads as an ever increasing phenomenon, causing music CD sales plummeting across the board. But looking deeper into the situation, it was apparent that Swedes are ready for legal music downloads and purchases, especially in the light of the prosecution of Pirate Bay. Incidentally, Sweden put into place the EU Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) in April, which had mandated ISPs to curtail music piracy. Or was it perhaps due to the good response to music subscription services like Spotify?
January 2, 2010.