Comments on: Linking to P2P content declared legal in Spain

By: Thomas Jaen

Thomas Jaen — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 10:42:12 +0000

This actually surprised me. I lived in Spain for a few years and had internet access. I would rarely download anything like music and I was confused by the law (I didn’t know what the position was exactly). Now that I’m back in the UK I know… Spain has some good laws I think. In the UK we can be cut off after a warning or two.

Anyway this is about linking, not downloading, although they are relative… some guy in the UK owned a site, pig something… can’t remember exactly but it linked to copyrighted material. He was taken to court and it took around 3 years and they found him NOT GUILTY, which was a great victory here.

By: judge Pérez

judge Pérez — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:53:30 +0000

I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you to take it so seriously. I am no judge; I am not even a lawyer. I have no public influence as I am confined home by sickness. I represent no threaten whatsoever to you now or in the future. I just intended to make an ironical -purely humorous- comment of what seemed to me a not so kind remark on Civil Law professionals. I see I was wrong and it made you feel uncomfortable. I was just playing a role, so exprssions like “little one” or “dear son” were not meant to disqualify you in any way, either personal or professional. Please, accept my apologies.

judge Pérez (just a stupid nickname)

(By the way IPs are usually of little help. What they show is your server’s location, unless you are using a proxy, VPN service or Tor-Onion routing).

By: Andres

Andres — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:27:41 +0000

For some reason, the tone on that comment was really disturbing. I’m not a little one, nor your “son”. It is not my intention to go to Madrid in the near future (hint GeoIP), and particularly not my intention to go to any court there.

Is there anything wrong with the highlighted comment? This is a matter of fact, not a question of opinion. I am not saying judges in civil law systems do not get to interpret the law, only that they do not have as much discretionary power as common law systems. This is not controversial at all.

By the way, next time you feel like being condescending to someone, you may want to look at their CV.

By: judge Pérez

judge Pérez — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:43:16 +0000

Well, well, well. little one. I see that you are a forgiving and indulgent person, so that you “understand that Civil Law judges are less capable of interpreting the letter of the law than common law judges”. Beleive me, my dear son: I am looking forward with delight to the opportunity of meeting you at my court. We will have both such a delicious time toghether, having a nice cup of tea and chatting on Civil Law…

By: La sentencia de Elrincondejesus « Responsabilidad en Internet

La sentencia de Elrincondejesus « Responsabilidad en Internet — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:39:20 +0000

[...] P.S.- Interesantes comentarios de José Luis Calzada y de Andrés Guadamuz [...]

By: Tontuno

Tontuno — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:41:04 +0000

What a nonsense. The judge is right, p2p is not illegal, it’s just the mean. If p2p is illegal then ftp, http, mail and data transfer as a whole has to be illegal too. It’s like saying “yeah, you can move your stuff in your car, but if you use a truck, then thats illegal”

By: Barcelonalainen tuomioistuin vapautti vertaisverkkoon linkittäjän at Turre Legal

Barcelonalainen tuomioistuin vapautti vertaisverkkoon linkittäjän at Turre Legal — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:02:32 +0000

[...] tuomioistuin antoi merkittävän päätöksen linkityksestä P2P sisältöön. Jutussa kantajana oli SGAE (Sociedad General de Autores y [...]

By: Links 17/3/2010: KDE 4.5 Proposals, Benchmark of Distros in Development | Boycott Novell

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:13:34 +0000

[...] Linking to P2P content declared legal in Spain This is an important and interesting ruling. I tend to agree with the linking part of the reasoning, but I completely disagree with the argument presented by the judge with regards to P2P networks. The judge uses some paper-thin arguments here to imply that P2P networks are not illegal, that they are here to stay anyway so what is the problem, and that almost nothing taking place in those networks can be enforced. I would be surprised if SGAE does not appeal the ruling. [...]

By: Antonio Moreno

Antonio Moreno — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:25:26 +0000

This Spanish guys are going nuts! Being the Spanish my mother language, and a copyright lawyer for over 30 years, I agree that the ruling is poorly written, and, worst of it, once more reflects what the judge thinks and not what the law says. And meanwhile, there are another six or seven magistrates that are prosecuting the same kind of infringers in criminal porceedings.
I hope that the Appeals Court (section 15 of the Barcelona Audiencia Provincial) will amend the ruling.
The worst of all of that is that Spanish politicians are flirting with this type of infringers, because they feel that choosing the right interpretation of the law in its basics (altere non laedere suum quique tribuere)in every aspect of life may make them loose voters!

By: Andres

Andres — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:03:29 +0000

I have reread the original three times again, and I tend to agree. It is difficult to get any meaning from that sentence, it is badly written.

However, even if it did, how does private copying have anything to do with P2P? That is even as wrong-headed as my first reading! The right to format shift and make private copies is not a right to share those copies with everyone else, and most definitely, it is not the right to place those copies online. That is why this is not a copying case, it is an infringement case.