Madrid Court rules P2P legal in landmark case against record labels

Record labels Sony BMG Music Etertainment, Universal Music Spain and Warner Music Spain have been involved in a six year case against Pablo Soto, the developer of napster-esque peer-to-peer (P2P) apps Blubster, Piolet, and Manolito. On the 31 March the Madrid Provincial Court ruled that Soto’s “activity is not only neutral, and perfectly legal, moreover it is protected by article 38 of our Constitution.”

The court recognised that Blubster was designed to allow all forms of audio content to be shared including those protected under free licenses, deciding that Soto “didn’t have any control over users’ actions by giving them the tools, as he wasn’t a mediator between the user and the service”

The ruling has been interpreted as a powerful victory for the legitimacy of P2P networks and applications in Spain.

Record labels lose landmark peer-to-peer judgement in Spain (11.04.2014)
http://news.en.softonic.com/peer-to-peer-now-legal-in-spain

Spanish Court Says “P2P Technology Doesn’t Promote Exploitation” (10.04.2014)
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/04/10/p2pspain

Favorable verdict for Pablo Soto (only in Spanish, 31.03.2014)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/217237433/Sentencia-favorable-a-Pablo-Soto

P2P tool is not illegal in itself, confirms Spanish court (only in French, 11.04.2014)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/29065-un-outil-de-p2p-n-est-pas-illegal-en-soi-confirme-la-justice-espagnole.html

P2P, technology is a mere instrument (only in Italian, 15.04.2014)
http://punto-informatico.it/4031486/PI/News/p2p-tecnologia-mero-strumento.aspx

(Contribution by Andrew Walsh – EDRi intern)