Sweden convicts first online movie file-sharer
A Swedish court made the first conviction for using an online file-sharing network this week in Sweden. Twenty eight-year-old Andreas Bawer was found guilty of breaching copyright by distributing a Swedish movie online and fined 16,000 kronor or US$2,000 for the crime. It is weird seeing Sweden coming down on file sharing after years of not dealing with it.
In the past, Sweden has been criticised for being lax on online piracy and introduced a new law in July. This case relates to 2004, before the new law banning the downloading of copyrighted material came into effect. Prior to the law, an estimated 900,000 Swedes regularly downloaded movies, games and music. The Swedish Anti-piracy Agency, which represents the entertainment industry, hailed the verdict as a big step forward. “This sends a very strong signal to file-sharers,” said Henrik Ponten, legal council at the group. “Now we have taken the first step toward a functioning copyright law.”
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