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First Swedish file sharer in court

11 October 2005 21:20 by James "Dela" Delahunty

A Swedish file-sharing "test" case begun on Tuesday. A 28 year old man from V�ster�s has been accused by anti-piracy organization, Antipiratbyr� (APB), of sharing a Swedish movie called Hip Hip Hora. This case is the first of its kind in Sweden and its outcome will have an impact on how file sharing is handled from now on in Sweden. The man admits to downloading the movie, but does not admit to distributing it other users online.

His lawyer believes that the evidence against him is not credible. "I hope and believe that he will be found not guilty," said his lawyer Torbj�rn Persson. "The evidence is very weak. If he is given a fine it will, in principle, be impossible to investigate this kind of crime." His last comment is correct, if just a fine were to be handed down it would mean police in Sweden could not carry out home raids or request subscriber info for suspected file sharers from ISPs.

At most the man would receive a suspended sentence, which would deem illegal file sharing serious enough to justify more involvement from the police. The APB believes this will not be the first case, regardless of what the decision is on Tuesday. The organisation has said the man shared at least 27 movies but that the case is only a test so they are only charging for one.

"If he is just given a fine, we'll take more films next time," said Henrik Pont�n, lawyer for APB, suggesting that more films would mean more fines, justifying the cost of an investigation. It is estimated that over 800,000 Internet users in Sweden shared files through P2P in Q2 2005.

Source:
The Local

Thanks to venomX05 for News Submission

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