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Business News Legal
German courts fine file-sharer just 30 euros
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 1 November 2010
The German courts recently provided a slight set back to the country’s record industry, and their RIAA-style approach to tackling file-sharing (ie a sue-the-fans system, which Germany’s labels have embraced more than most), by ruling that one guy guilty of online copyright infringement pay damages of, erm, 30 euros.
The record industry’s lawyers had been pushing for damages of 600 euros, while previous sue-the-fan lawsuits have resulted in damages in the region of 1000 euros per track. But, according to TorrentFreak, the judge hearing this case deemed the record industry’s damages demands were unreasonable and opted for something much more modest.
The court also knocked back attempts by the German record industry to make the defendant’s father, who had been the bill-payer on the internet connection used for the file-sharing, also liable for copyright infringement. The actual file-sharer was just sixteen at the time of the file-sharing back in 2006.
It’s not clear if this case could set any precedent for future file-sharing cases in Germany, or encourage those previously saddled with higher damages payouts to appeal. Certainly if 30 euro damages became the norm, it would make sue-the-fan litigation a pretty pointless option for German content owners.
