A guy accused of illegally file sharing movies in Sweden has had his copyright violation conviction overturned. The unnamed filesharer was accused of illegally offering a Swedish film called 'Hip Hip Hora' via P2P, and in a lower court hearing was found guilty of copyright violation and fined 16,000 kroner (about £1100). But the Svea Court Of Appeal yesterday said that there was not enough evidence to convict the man, so the ruling and fine were overturned. The evidence presented to the court linked the sharing of the film to the IP address used by the defendant but that, the appeal court ruled, was not good enough. That puts authorities fighting this kind of crime in Sweden in a difficult position because privacy laws there mean that police are not allowed to search a home, or even a PC, of a suspected file sharer in order to acquire better evidence to back up their case. None of which helps agencies looking to fight suspected file sharers - whether through civil or criminal action.
Oct 3, 2006
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1 min read
Swedish court overturns filesharing conviction
A Swedish appeal court has overturned a filesharer's copyright conviction, ruling that the IP address evidence was not sufficient to convict.