Spanish Judge Says Private, Non-Commercial Downloading Is Legal

from the that-ought-to-piss-off-the-RIAA dept

A few years ago, when the recording industry filed a bunch of lawsuits against those accused of file sharing in Spain, we noted that the country's laws required "an intent to profit" for their to be copyright violations. Of course, the recording industry responded by saying that "the intent to save money" is the equivalent of "the intent to profit" but that's a pretty slippery slope. Apparently, at least one judge in Spain isn't buying it. Ben S writes in to let us know that a judge in Spain has dismissed the case against one man accused of file sharing (not sure what's happened with all the others). Even more interesting is the judge's choice of words in his decision, saying that to have ruled otherwise "would imply the criminalization of socially accepted and widely practiced behavior in which the aim is in no way to make money illicitly, but rather to obtain copies for private use." Of course, the industry will almost definitely appeal. Also, the political situation in Spain may be moving more in favor of the recording industry. Earlier this year, we noted that Spain had passed a new bill that made ISPs liable for file sharing done on their network, and added a blank media tax to various media (though, some may then use this to further claim that downloading for private use is legit).

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