German court lowers damages in filesharing case

Not 600, but 30 Euros in damages is a German boy ordered to pay for the illegal filesharing of two songs. And his father is not liable for the infringing act his son committed through his internet connection. Thus ruled a Hamburg court last week.

The court found that the teen had infringed the copyrights of the songs rights owners and was liable for the damages resulting therefrom. But the rights holder's claim for damages of 300 Euros per song, was found unreasonable by the judge. According to the court, 15 euros per song is a far more reasonable amount. In measuring the hight of the damages the court took into consideration that the songs - "Angel" by Rammstein and "Roll Over Not" by Marius Müller-Westernhagen - were so old that the demand for them would have been small.Moreover, the songs would have been available for only a short time, allowing a window for only a few downloads.

In addition, the court rejected the claim that the father, as the owner of the internet connection, is liable for the infringing activities carried out by his son. According to the court, the father himself did not breach any copyrights or give permission to do so and he had no knowledge of the unlawful conduct of his son.

In Germany case law on an internet connection’s owner’s liability for the infringing acts committed by others without consent or knowledge varies considerably (more about that in a previous blog post).

See here for the verdict (German).

Source: TorrentFreak