The boss of the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, John Kennedy, has called on Spain to sort out its copyright laws so that it is easier to combat online piracy. The Spanish courts have not been kind to content owners trying to litigate over file sharing - saying current laws can't be used to force ISPs to reveal the identities of web users suspected of file sharing. As ISPs tend to only hand over that information if forced to do so by the courts, that makes it pretty much impossible to sue individuals for file sharing in Spain, should you want to, which the labels generally do.
Comparing Spain to France where, as previously reported, politicians are putting in place new rules to force ISPs to be much more proactive in policing file sharing, according to Billboard Kennedy told a seminar in Madrid last week: "I cannot believe the French government cares more about French music and creativity than the Spanish government does about Spanish music and creativity. [French President Nicholas] Sarkozy said the internet must not be a high-tech Wild West, but he said it for the French music and film industries, not for John Kennedy and the IFPI. It is the home-grown emerging content industry that needs protection, not Hollywood. I call on Spain not to let India and China wake up to this fact while Spain takes no action".