Dutch 'download' site shut down
The Dutch Court of Appeal has ordered that the Zoekmp3.nl website must be shut down according to the BBC website. Zoekmp3.nl did not host copyright-infringing music, but instead provided deep links to infringing music on other sites. The court gave short shrift to the website’s argument that it had put a disclaimer on the site warning people not to infringe copyright, saying:
"Such a warning ignores the reality that the lion's share of visitors are looking for unauthorised MP3 files".The fact that Zoekmp3.nl would benefit financially from the links because of increased traffic to the site was also noted.
The IPKat would be mighty interested to know the precise ground on which the infringement was found.
Patent Framework Document
The Patent Framework Document 2006 is now online. It’s short but awfully racy.
in short: A dutch version of US Supreme Court in Grokster. The explicit (commercial) exploitation of links to infringing material was considered to be contrary to the fundamental principles of social and economic live.
ReplyDeleteThe court did not consider whether there was copyright infringement. Under Dutch law the following act is deemed to be unlawful (art 6:162 Dutch Civil Code): "an act or omission violating a statutory duty or a rule of unwritten law pertaining to proper social conduct".
ReplyDeleteAccording to the court, the person operating the search engine acted unlawful on this ground. The operator of the search engine made a profit by using the availability of unauthorised mp3-files, without taking into account the interests of the rights holders. This, taking into account the fundamental interest of the rights holders, violates a rule of unwritten law pertaining to proper social conduct according to the court.