AdverseDeviant Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 MILAN, Italy - Italy's top criminal court has ruled that downloading music, movies and software over the Internet isn't a crime if profit wasn't the motivation, though analysts questioned Monday whether the ruling would have much effect on copyright laws.The court's decision, issued earlier this month but reported over the weekend by the Italian media, overturns earlier convictions against two former Turin Polytechnic Institute students who set up in 1994 a peer-to-peer, file-sharing network that was shut down within months. They were found guilty of illegal duplication and given a one-year sentence, which was reduced to three months on appeal, defense lawyer Carlo Blengino said. The top criminal court in Rome threw out the convictions, ruling that it was not a crime to download computer files from such networks if there was no financial gain. But analysts said violating a copyright, for example by breaking copy-protection technologies in place, remained illegal even if downloading the material had been decriminalized. "I consider this sentence as a very intermediate step in clarifying what is legal and what is not legal," said analyst Carlo Alberto Carnevale Maffe, the president of Assodigitale, a think-tank on digital technology. "This sentence marks an important step in that peer-to-peer per se is not an illegal activity. What stays and remains illegal is copyright infringement by cracking copyright files, and distributing it for commercial purposes." That could cover services that charge access or connectivity fees, he said. The Italian agency that monitors copyright issues, known by the acronym SIAE, said in a statement that the ruling did not bring any "revolutions" in terms of author's rights because the case predates current legislation calling for a fine for anyone who shares protected material over the Internet, even without financial gain. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16756121/ Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azusa Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 set sail for Italy! Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258572 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diffused Mind Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 So the horribly corrupt government of Italy actually made a...logical...choice? <insert shock and horror here> Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258583 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt T Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 set sail for Italy!Don't leave without me! :laugh: Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258596 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Menge Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 oooooh highly controversial :p /me considers moving to italy :p Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258604 Share on other sites More sharing options...
rado354 Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Good news! Any ideas what to download? Make it as illegal as possible ;) I just want to try to the new situation :) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258628 Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeroday Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Now we need a test case for the UK :ninja: Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258651 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Decryptor Veteran Posted January 25, 2007 Veteran Share Posted January 25, 2007 It should be like this anyway, the companies don't loose any money from a guy downloading a movie/song/app, but they do if the guy starts selling it for profit. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258660 Share on other sites More sharing options...
noroom Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 il gouda news! Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258668 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavalyr Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 was reading about this earlier. *jumps on the large boat headed for italy* Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258671 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMan Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 It should be like this anyway, the companies don't loose any money from a guy downloading a movie/song/app, but they do if the guy starts selling it for profit. Well thats not strictly true is it? If you download a film/app/game/song etc.... you aren't going to be then going out and buying it therefore, the company/artist etc.. are losing out by you not paying for it. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258674 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gunslinger Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 set sail for Italy! Don't leave without me! :laugh: Aaaargh me hearties :pirate: ...we be going to Italy... :pirate: Aaaargh... Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258675 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+M2Ys4U Subscriber¹ Posted January 25, 2007 Subscriber¹ Share Posted January 25, 2007 In other news, the Pirate Bay has secretly infiltrated the Italian government. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258705 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soham Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 lol....How many years i have to stay in Italy to get Italian citizenship? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258712 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Decryptor Veteran Posted January 25, 2007 Veteran Share Posted January 25, 2007 Well thats not strictly true is it? If you download a film/app/game/song etc.... you aren't going to be then going out and buying it therefore, the company/artist etc.. are losing out by you not paying for it. It's not always a given, the person might hate it and delete it and not buy it, or they might love it and buy the album/app/etc. I know i have found new artists and such via last.fm (they offer full length previews and free downloads), and stuff like that has made me money on albums i normally wouldn't buy. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258726 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMan Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 It's not always a given, the person might hate it and delete it and not buy it, or they might love it and buy the album/app/etc.I know i have found new artists and such via last.fm (they offer full length previews and free downloads), and stuff like that has made me money on albums i normally wouldn't buy. Maybe but I would imagine that the majority of downloaders have no intention of making a purchase - they download stuff as an alternative to spending money. I suppose that it depends on the type of material, pirated games for instance are now hard or impossible to play online due to serial number validation etc... applications are going that way aswell. Music and films are different in that they can be watched/listened to as many times as you like without needing any form of activation etc... Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258749 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Decryptor Veteran Posted January 25, 2007 Veteran Share Posted January 25, 2007 Yeah, there will always be people who want stuff for free. But, it still shouldn't be a copyright violation, that should be reserved for unauthorized commercial users and people making a profit off it. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258758 Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanManIt Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 That's good that they've decriminalized it. I wouldn't have ever expected Italy to do this. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258765 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Gibs Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 In other news The Pirate Bay has set up a site requesting donations to buy Italy. Asking price 200billion usd. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258779 Share on other sites More sharing options...
leesmithg Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Well I wonder what the cash cow a.k.a. European Union will have to say about it. If something is downloaded, it may have not been installed, if it is installed, as long as not used to profit then the tax payers money should not be used to fight such actions. It should be upto the authors to take action not thir parties. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258781 Share on other sites More sharing options...
rado354 Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 In other news The Pirate Bay has set up a site requesting donations to buy Italy. Asking price 200billion usd. Who the heck is selling Italy in the first place? Try negotiate for Sicily maybe... :rofl: Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588258814 Share on other sites More sharing options...
redfish Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Maybe but I would imagine that the majority of downloaders have no intention of making a purchase - they download stuff as an alternative to spending money. I suppose that it depends on the type of material, pirated games for instance are now hard or impossible to play online due to serial number validation etc... applications are going that way aswell. Music and films are different in that they can be watched/listened to as many times as you like without needing any form of activation etc... According to the article, they can be given a fine, it just isn't criminal. Like a traffic violation. Its more realistic anyway. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588259463 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embermage Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Well thats not strictly true is it? If you download a film/app/game/song etc.... you aren't going to be then going out and buying it therefore, the company/artist etc.. are losing out by you not paying for it. I know that many times, people who download music would have had no intention of purchasing it in the first place. I might download song X, and listen to it and enjoy it - but if I hadn't downloaded it, I wouldn't have purchased it either. Therefore, how are they losing any money? The only thing that comes out of these particular situations is greater reach by the artist. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588259496 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePitt Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 good for italians. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588259673 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aero Ultimate Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Thumbs up for Bella?Italia!:cool:: Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/532836-italian-court-downloading-ok-if-not-for-profit/#findComment-588260228 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts