IFPI Welcomes Dutch Anti-Piracy Ruling

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

28 August 2006

A judge in the Netherlands last week ruled that internet service provider Chello must provide the personal details of a large-scale illegal music uploader to Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN.

He ruled that the information supplied by BREIN about the individual subscriber's activities was "beyond reasonable doubt".

BREIN had requested from Chello the personal details of three people uploading to the illegal torrent site 'Dikkedonder'. Upon receiving this request, Chello came to the conclusion that there was no reasonable doubt in two cases and decided to give BREIN the desired information.

Chello claimed it did have doubts about handing over details about the third person, but BREIN disagreed and took the case to court.

Commenting on the verdict on Thursday, the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) announced that:

"This is a very important verdict. Getting the personal details of people abusing the internet is now not just possible in theory, but also in reality. In principle, internet service providers are obliged to give personal details of infringers to the rightholders in question. BREIN had a confirmed legitimate interest in getting those details in this case. Future such conflicts with ISPs will be brought to court. The next step is suing the infringers themselves."

Tim Kuik, managing director of BREIN added that:

"It all comes down to the fight against the illegal distribution of movies, music and games on the internet in order to protect the legal distribution of such content. This verdict takes us to the source of that illegal distribution."

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