Downloading movies/music…?? Go to jail……
>from Telegraaf.nl
A Dutch judge decided that downloading protected “intellectual property” (read; movies/music/books) is a illegal activity and you can get prosecuted for that !!!
Till now; OFFERING those items was illegal……
Expectations are that more lawsuits will follow….
I am wondering though; if you OFFER a movie = yes – that is illegal – you KNOW what you are doing….. you DO know what you are offering….
But; if I download “Rosemary’s Baby“….. – that COULD be family footage of the new born…..
Or “Rocky“could be a footage of my brothers dog….
If they first give me a warning that I am downloading ILLEGAL content – then YES = I know what I am doing….
Weird of this judge…….  I think his decision is an illegal one……
===================================
I don’t think this will hold up in higher courts if challenged. We all pay a compensation fee on every blank cd or dvd we buy for copies made at home in private. It would be very strange that we have to pay this fee if it’s illegal.
Dont think that paying a fee for the cd and/or dvd has anything to do with this….. Getting illegal content is the question…. The bigger question is; how do you know it is illegal…??
It has everything to do with it, too. That fee on blank cds/dvds was invented to compensate producers and owners of copyrighted works for copies made at home, in private. ‘Making copies’ also includes downloading, that was the idea when they invented this fee…
But the question how someone suppose to know what is legal or not is the bigger one, you’re right about that.
Didnt know that there was a connection between those….
And not first download….
I thought that we are paying those fees so we can make our own copy of content we already own…
AND; why would people have blank cds/dvds – as we can stream it from the hard disc = that is also why Brein wants us to pay the same fee over the hd.
Yes, in current Dutch law it doesn’t matter if you bought content and make a copy of that, or you download the material. In both cases it’s a “thuiskopie” as it is called in Dutch.
The fee can be easily avoided though, by buying your media abroad. The difference in price of, say blank dvds, in The Netherlands and for example Germany is pretty big…
Buying it on another place – gives you still the duty to pay the fees !!!
Buying it abroad does not mean that you don’t have to pay that !!
No, that’s absolutely wrong!
When you buy media in The Netherlands, the consumer pays the fee that’s already in the sale price, but it’s actually the manufacturer or importer who pays the collected fees to the foundation who is in charge of the system (“Stichting Thuiskopie”). This only counts when you buy in The Neterlands.
When you buy media in, say, Germany, the situation is totally different. The transaction doesn’t take place in The Netherlands, so there is no fee to be paid to the Dutch foundation. You only have to pay that fee if you bring the media to The Neterlands and sell it to another party. Then the transaction takes place in The Netherlands and you have to pay. But most consumers just buy for themselves and then there is no fee to be paid. Note that on a transaction on a website that is abroad you don’t have to pay either.
Btw, you actually do pay a small fee when you buy media in Germany. That goes to the German equivalent of “Stichting Thuiskopie”. The German fee is much lower, though.
I am a little afraid you are wrong with this one;
The law says that the IMPORTER is responsible for paying the fees…. even if the importer is an individual….
Same as importduties and tax; the importer is responsible!!
And these fees are no exception on this.
LEGALLY; you can ask the fees back from (for example) the German Government (as you also can with importduties and tax…. but as we have one EU = the importduties will not change BUT the tax can be different !!!)
No, I think you’re wrong about this…. lol
You only look at what the law says, and ignore the case law about it, and that’s probably more important here! Rulings in court and debates in Parliament say that consumers are NOT regarded as importers as long they don’t resell the media, and the media is used for purposes as covered under “thuiskopie”. An important ruling in court was: “Het begrip ‘importeur’ is geïntroduceerd bij de invoering van artikel 16c lid 2 Aw, dus vóór de implementatie van de richtlijn. Anders dan de Stichting meent, kan dit begrip niet richtlijnconform worden ge-interpreteerd (…) bij de behandeling van het voorstel tot invoering van artikel 16ga Aw gaat de minister ervan uit dat deze als importeur aan te merken consumenten geen thuiskopievergoeding verschuldigd zijn”. And as said in Parliament: “De wet gaat naar mijn mening evenwel niet zo ver dat ook de consumenten die in het buitenland dragers aanschaffen voor eigen gebruik, betalings-plichtig zouden zijn”.
There you have it.
Uh…… you COULD be right – but I do not see any sources…
Because if they say that a consumer can not be seen as an “importeur” that would make the whole importing and import duties also another case…..
So – where do I have it..??
Sources: Gerechtshof Den Haag, rolnr. KG ZA 05 925 and Kamerstukken 28 486 cabinet responding to Parliament.
It’s a very theoretical possibility that they would charge a consumer for not paying the fee. As the case law is right now, it’s almost certain that a consumer would be acquitted in court. There is a very remote chance that a judge would rule differently, but for all practical purposes we can say that consumers don’t have to pay the fee. The end conclusion seems to be that it’s not 100% certain that consumers don’t have to pay, but it’s at least very, very likely. Enough for the consumer to take a chance…
hahaha – the whole thing is; most consumers are not looking into this = like you do – so won’t do it….
I dunno… it’s pretty easy nowadays to order stuff on the internet. A lot of people probably don’t even think about the fee, they just see the difference in price and order abroad.