Downloading of torrents in Germany - don't do it!

[Uncle Nick 6,245]

I don't go for downloading, streaming is less complicated and you can do it if whenever you have time (of which I have a lot.)

[foreign in fatherland 108]

fuzzytony - that's very nice of you. Can you tell us all which law exactly?

 

Can you then explain why the legal firms who work for the copyright media holders attempt to prosecute for only for uploading - nothing to do with downloading....

 

thanks!

 

[fuzzytony 4,969]

What do you mean the legal firms working on behalf of the digital media copyright holders are only attempting to prosecute uploaders? Of course the law firms are also after the downloaders. Look at this thread here: Accussed of torrenting copyrighted material

 

And as I previously mentioned, downloading copyrighted material without permission is against the law here in Germany - that law from the Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz being Gesetz über Urheberrecht und verwandte Schutzrechte (Urheberrechtsgesetz) [Law on Copyright and Related Rights (Copyright Act)]. More specifically: Copyright Act of 9 September 1965 (Federal Law Gazette Part I, p. 1273), as last amended by Article 8 of the Act of 1 October 2013 (Federal Law Gazette Part I, p. 3714).

 

Notable Articles in the Act are:

 

Part 1 - Copyright

Section II - Works

• Article 6 - Published works and released works

(2) A work shall be deemed to have been released when copies of the work have been offered, with the rightholder’s consent, to the public or brought to the market after their production in sufficient quantity. An artistic work shall also be deemed to have been released when the original or a copy of the work has been made permanently available to the public with the consent of the rightholder.

• Article 17 - Right of distribution

2) Where the original or copies of the work have been brought to the market by sale with the consent of the person entitled to distribute them within the territory of the European Union or another state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, their dissemination shall be permissible, except by means of rental.

 

Part 4 - Common provisions on copyright and related rights

Section II - Infringements

Subsection 2 - Criminal and regulatory fine provisions

• Article 106 - Unlawful exploitation of copyrighted works

(1) Anyone who without the consent of the rightholder reproduces, distributes or communicates to the public a work or an adaptation or transformation of a work in manners other than those permitted by law shall be liable to imprisonment of not more than 3 years or a fine.

(2) Any attempt shall be punishable.

• Article 109 - Application for criminal prosecution

In the cases referred to in Articles 106 to 108 and in Article 108b, the act shall only be pursued upon application, unless the criminal prosecution authority regards ex officio action to be necessary on account of the particular public interest in the criminal prosecution.

 

Part 5 - Scope of application, transitional, and final provisions

Section I - Scope of the Act

Subsection 2 - Related rights

• Article 128 - Protection of producers of films

(1) German nationals or enterprises with a principal place of business within the territory to which this Act applies enjoy the protection granted under Article 94 and 95 for all their video recordings or video and audio recordings, regardless of whether and where they are released. Article 120 (2) and Article 126 (1), third sentence, shall apply.

(2) The provisions set out in Article 126 (2) and (3) shall apply mutatis mutandis for foreign nationals or enterprises with no principal place of business within the territory to which this Act applies.

 

 

That should be enough to chew on.

[franklan 6,030]

 

What do you mean the legal firms working on behalf of the digital media copyright holders are only prosecuting uploaders?

 

Name 1 single individual who was successfully prosecuted for downloading in Germany. You won't find one.

 

It is illegal to download, yes, but you won't get your arse kicked for downloading.

 

However, you get your arse kicked if you provide illegal stuff, and that is what you're doing while torrenting illegal stuff, as torrenting means you are also one server of said stuff.

 

You might also take a look at this link. The ISPs are only required to hand out the owner behind one IP if the accusation is "Providing of illegal stuff". The accusation "downloading" isn't enough to get that information.

 

http://www.netzwelt.de/news/93315-filesharing-bgh-bestaetigt-auskunftsanspruch-urhebern.html

[fuzzytony 4,969]

I've just changed it to repeat exactly what foreign in fatherland posted. Attempting to prosecute. The point was whether or not there is a law against downloading copyrighted material illegally (the answer: yes), not the point being if such a law exists, should we ignore it, circumvent it, flaunt it?

 

I'm sounding pissed because I have read a few comments on this thread and the other one that say, "Downloading is not illegal; it's only uploading that's illegal." Bull-fucking-shit!

 

I already read that article from Netzwelt dated August 2012 a few years back. The Copyright Act (parts of which I posted above) was amended a year after the Netzwelt publication.

 

Anyway, I better stay off these two threads. The naivety of those asking for help because their "friend/cousin/roommate/grandma/dog got caught downloading" is too much for me to bear.  

[Mik Dickinson 443]

anyone got a letter of Wolgang Frommer? Just got back from my lawyer after being accused of downloading Magic Mike XXL.I did not do it my kids did not do nor my wife.Then again i am not a computer nerd and my router was not even protcted but it is now.This guy wants €815 off me.But no one can actually prove it was me because it wasnt.

[zwiebelfisch 7,067]

You should get legal advice.  As far as I understand it, it is enough to prove it was your router/your connection which downloaded the file and that proving it was you or a memboer of your family is not required.  But Im not a lawyer, and Im not 100% sure aobut these things.

 

Edit for the pedantic: technically you are probably in trouble for offering the file for upload but thats just one of those technicalities discussed at tedious length in this thread already.

[Biglaa 147]

anyone got a letter of Wolgang Frommer? Just got back from my lawyer after being accused of downloading Magic Mike XXL.I did not do it my kids did not do nor my wife.Then again i am not a computer nerd and my router was not even protcted but it is now.This guy wants €815 off me.But no one can actually prove it was me because it wasnt.

They don't have to prove who did it. (In the UK, yes, Germany, no.) They have everything they need already under German law, and couldn't care less who actually did it, as they don't need to know. You own the IP address, you own the problem. Welcome to our world.

[Mik Dickinson 443]

Biglaa not according to the lawyer and i am sure he knows what he is going about as he is i believe a professional in that area.The same rule as when you get done for speeding.The owner of the car gets the letter but they also tell you if you were not the driver to inform them who it was.But like i said the lawyer is a specialist in this field

[franklan 6,030]

The same rule as when you get done for speeding.The owner of the car gets the letter but they also tell you if you were not the driver to inform them who it was.

The accusation "speeding with the car" is "öffentliches Recht", e.g. the "state against you". That Torrenting-Stuff is "Zivilrecht", e.g. "one copyright owner against you". And that lawyer is doing this on behalf of the copyright owner. You might consider it nitpicking, but you can't compare speeding in a car with the accusation of distributing copyrighted content, as for the later there exists "Störerhaftung", and for the former *not*.

 

 

 

[Mik Dickinson 443]

Just have to wait and see what happens then

[Biglaa 147]

Biglaa not according to the lawyer and i am sure he knows what he is going about as he is i believe a professional in that area.The same rule as when you get done for speeding.The owner of the car gets the letter but they also tell you if you were not the driver to inform them who it was.But like i said the lawyer is a specialist in this field

Excellent. So, who do you tell them it was? Unless you have a name, and that person admits it, you're stuck with it. Trust me, my lawyer tried the same thing, and it didn't help one little bit. As the owner of the connection, you are ultimately responsible for what is done with it unfortunately. Even having your network unprotected I seem to remember can also be considered as an offence, not a defence.

[Mik Dickinson 443]

i refer you to my previous post

[jasminer 11]

So i got this threat letter 2 years ago.

 

My response was literally

 

Dear (Name of Legal Firm)

I refer to your letter dated(date) which accuses me of (detail of accusation) and threatens me with huge penalties and legal costs if I don't pay you.

My position is as follows.

 

a. I didn't download the stupid fucking show you refer to in your piece of shit threat letter.
b. I did all necessary to legally secure my modem.

c. I have teenage children. They are awesome

d. Here is my invoice, for my time reading your bullshit threat letter.

e. Go fuck yourself.

 

Sadly, they didn't pay  my invoice but I've not heard from them again.

 

[jasminer 11]

On 6/16/2015, 3:52:51, kaffeemitmilch said:

Which client allows you to turn off uploading COMPLETELY? On uTorrent, I could make it as low as 1, but never completely turn it off, as 0=infinity.

bitthief

 

[DerWeg17 7]

On 2/20/2016, 7:43:13, jasminer said:

So i got this threat letter 2 years ago.

 

My response was literally

 

Dear (Name of Legal Firm)

I refer to your letter dated(date) which accuses me of (detail of accusation) and threatens me with huge penalties and legal costs if I don't pay you.

My position is as follows.

 

a. I didn't download the stupid fucking show you refer to in your piece of shit threat letter.
b. I did all necessary to legally secure my modem.

c. I have teenage children. They are awesome

d. Here is my invoice, for my time reading your bullshit threat letter.

e. Go fuck yourself.

 

Sadly, they didn't pay  my invoice but I've not heard from them again.

 

 

 

I can't like this enough. You are my hero.

[Metall 14,557]

On 2/20/2016, 7:43:13, jasminer said:

So i got this threat letter 2 years ago.

 

My response was literally

 

Dear (Name of Legal Firm)

I refer to your letter dated(date) which accuses me of (detail of accusation) and threatens me with huge penalties and legal costs if I don't pay you.

My position is as follows.

 

a. I didn't download the stupid fucking show you refer to in your piece of shit threat letter.
b. I did all necessary to legally secure my modem.

c. I have teenage children. They are awesome

d. Here is my invoice, for my time reading your bullshit threat letter.

e. Go fuck yourself.

 

Sadly, they didn't pay  my invoice but I've not heard from them again.

 

 

You will hear from them shortly before the three years are up.

 

[Tim Hortons Man 543]

Was surfing around and saw this

 

Accused of downloading Canada

[Owlstalk 0]

Im new to germany just moved to dusseldorf area as the wife has some work here for a few years and ive downloaded some old tv series to watch as we dont have TV etc

 

ve now found out the legalities on downloading torretns etc... and im expecting to get a letter ? And with it being a large file ive downloaded i reckon it will be a hefty fine ? 

 

do i panic ? 

 

Alot of people from other countries seem to have fallen into this trap everything is just for personal use! surely these companies are making a killing on people downloading ? 

 

do i prepare myself ? just sit back wait for letter ? 

[sneaker 871]

Not everything is monitored. Google "[name_of_tv_show] Abmahnung" and see if there are any hits. If not you might be lucky. Even if there are hits you might still be lucky. There is the possibility to send a "prophylactic declaration of discontinuance" ("Vorbeugende Unterlassungserklärung") but it's .. complicated.