A Court of Appeals in Sweden has overturned on Tuesday a landmark peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing verdict allowing music labels and movie studios to look into Internet Service Providers’ (ISP) records for the identity of users who allegedly violated copyright laws.
Under the so-called “Ipred Law,” a Swedish lower court has earlier ruled in favor of music industry and allowed the companies to look into ISP records to reveal the identity of copyright infringers. The decision was made on April 1.
The case stemmed from calls by five publishers of audio books to punish copyright violators under the said law.
Ephone, one of Sweden’s ISP companies, was forced by the publishers to reveal the IP address of the server that holds 27 audio books under their names. In reversing the earlier ruling, the Court of Appeals, which was based in Stockholm, said that the prosecutors failed to prove that the server really was accessible to the public.
The CA chief judge was also forced to intervened with the rendering of the decision since the four other judges has ruled 2-2 on the issue.
It will be recalled that the lower court of Sweden has ordered Ephone in June to reveal the names of people directly connected to the questioned IP address being used by the P2P server.
Since the implementation of the Ipred Law, illegal downloading through P2P file-sharing websites has significantly dropped in Sweden. It was also learned that Sweden has one of the highest number of file-sharing violations in the world.
But with the implementation of the said law, the number went down 30 to 40 percent. Ipred has earned the ire of Internet users, saying that it has violated the right of freedom in the online world.
One of the most vocal opposition was the online firm Pirate Party, which is also among the proponents that pushes for the legalization of file-sharing online.