Monday, July 17, 2006

Netherlands Appeals Court Affirms in Foundation v. UPC Nederland

We have just learned that the 2005, decision of the District Court of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, in Foundation v. UPC Nederland, in which it was held that Media Sentry's investigation of peer to peer file sharing over software such as that supplied by Kazaa and Grokster was flawed and not "lawful", and that the internet service providers were not permitted to divulge subscriber information to the RIAA's Netherlands counterparts, has been affirmed by a Netherlands appeals court:

http://www.theregister.com/2006/07/14/fileswappers_protected/

Background documents:

Lower court decision
(Alternate link) (Alternate link #2) (Alternate link #3)(Alternate link #4)

Expert witness declaration
(Alternate link) (Alternate link #2) (Alternate link #3)(Alternate link #4)

Ray Beckerman, one of the attorneys representing RIAA defendants in the U.S., had this comment:

"The courts of the Netherlands and Canada continue to be ahead of those in the United States.

"In the United States the RIAA's ex parte discovery orders are routinely being granted by the judges, based on a sham 'evidentiary' basis.

"I can't wait for our courts to finally start scrutinizing the RIAA's tactics with the care and thoughtfulness exhibited by the courts of the Netherlands and Canada.


Documents furnished courtesy of
Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm
SOLV Advocaten
P.O. Box 75538
1070 AM Amsterdam
Schippersgracht 1-3
1011 TR Amsterdam
The Netherlands
T +31 20 5300160
F +31 20 5300170
M +31 6 25017 235
E thijm@solv.nl
W www.solv.nl

These are the attorneys who successfully represented the defendants.

Keywords: digital copyright online download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs

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