Grooveshark to be censored in Denmark

A group of more than 30 rightsholders have won their case targeted against Grooveshark in Denmark. A court agreed that both the streaming music service and its users infringe recording label copyrights and granted an injunction forcing an ISP to initiate a block of the service. The anti-piracy group behind the action hopes that other ISPs will now follow suit.

Last year, a group of entertainment companies known collectively as RettighedsAlliancen sent a demand to the Danish Bailiff Court (known locally as Fogedretten) to have the country’s Internet service providers block US-based streaming music service Grooveshark.
RettighedsAlliancen chief Maria Fredenslund said that Grooveshark had no content agreements or licenses with members of her group, accused the service of being “completely uncooperative” in negotiations, and that effectively taking down content from Grooveshark had proven impossible.
The resulting legal action was directed “randomly” at telecoms company ’3′ with a complaint that the ISP’s customers breach copyright and as their supplier they are contributing to infringements.

Based on the Danish implementation of the Infosoc Directive, the court ordered an immediate injunction against ’3′ which prohibits it from facilitating subscriber access to Grooveshark.
“Grooveshark is an illegal site, which is really big and popular. But they have a business model that is based on trickery and fraud,” said RettighedsAlliancen chief Maria Fredenslund commenting on the news.

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Danish File-Sharers Not Responsible For Wi-Fi Theft

Two Danish women taken to court by IFPI affiliates for sharing music were found to be innocent. The two claimed they were the victim of WiFi theft, had no knowledge of the alleged infringements and therefore shouldn’t have to pay the damages. The court agreed and acquitted them of all charges.

Some time ago, two women from Denmark, both of which later admitted to having P2P software on their computers, received letters from IFPI anti-piracy affiliates Antipiratgruppen, claiming that they had been engaging in the unauthorized uploading of copyrighted musical works. According to reports, the letters demanded compensation - $30,000 and $32,000 respectively.

The cases went to court and were heard this Friday [Sept. 5th, 2008], and to the file-sharing masses of Denmark, it turned out to be a very important day. The women did not deny the claims that unauthorized file-sharing had taken place on their Internet connections but stated clearly that they were not the ones carrying it out.

They claimed that their Wi-Fi had been piggybacked by persons unknown but the music industry didn’t care. Rather like the lawyers chasing the UK’s alleged pinball pirates, they asserted that an Internet subscriber is responsible for what others do on their connection, and it was up to the women to prove that they had not shared music with others. The court didn’t agree and acquitted the women of all charges.

Read more at TorrentFreak