It seems that folks in the Netherlands (or Holland, for example) no longer have the right to download copyrighted movies and music for free even when it is for personal use. Apparently, the Netherlands government had propped things up in such a way that there is a “piracy levy” on selected products in order to please the film and music industries. The European Court of Justice recently ruled that the country’s “piracy levy” is now illegal, as it might result in the encouragement of a greater level of distribution of pirated copyrighted content.
The EU Court also mentioned that this particular system would an “unfair disadvantage to the copyright holders.” Apart from that, those who purchased the music and movies via legal means were still levied with additional charges upon purchase. This decision might also spill over and affect Switzerland, which so happens to be another country that allows the downloading of copyrighted content for personal use. It seems that this particular ban is in effect immediately. What do you think of this particular move? Does it make sense to you, or are the freedoms of the Dutch being held back or trampled upon in some way? It would be interesting to see if this ends up as a precedent for Switzerland later.
Filed in . Read more about Legal.