New Anti-Piracy Law Unlikely To Phase Swedes

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

05 July 2005

The implementation on Friday of a law banning the downloading of copyrighted material from the internet is likely to criminalise an estimated one in ten of Sweden's 9 million population.

The new rules come as the result of an EU directive on the matter, and update the earlier legal position, whereby making such material available for others to download was the only criminal offence.

Observers have suggested, however, that the widespread nature of copyright infringement by the technology-literate Swedes, coupled with the government's still relatively relaxed attitude towards such activity, is likely to render the new law ineffective.

Writing about the new legislation prior to its implementation, Justice Minister Thomas Bodstrom announced that the government and police force will not dedicate large amounts of time and resources to tracking downloaders unless the scale of the copyright infringement is significant.

"It would be just as unreasonable to dedicate large police resources to investigate single cases of downloading as it would to prioritize shoplifting cases ahead of robberies," he explained.

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