‘Filesharing community FTD throws in the towel after Dutch court ruling’

The Dutch Usenet-community FTD will not file for appeal in the lost lawsuit against Stichting Brein. Today, they announced that they will cease all their operations on March 1st. Last week, we reported on this website that a court in Haarlem, The Netherlands, summoned FTD to remove all references to copyrighted work from their platform. The usenet community for filesharing told newsblog Tweakers.net that they will no longer resist.<o:p></o:p><o:p> </o:p>

Last week the Haarlem court ruled that, although usenet community FTD is not infringing copyrights and does not host or distribute illegal files, the site does structurally and systematically act unlawfully by exploiting an Internet forum that facilitates and encourages the illegal downloading and uploading of copyrighted material.<o:p></o:p>

The organization apparently sees no viable possibility of appeal. ‘FTD has been shut down.’, said Arnoud Engelfriet, the ICT lawyer who advised the organization in the case. Engelfriet has little confidence that an appeal court will rule differently. It will also be a very time consuming procedure. <o:p></o:p>

FTD may very well be apprehensive regarding their chances in Dutch courts, because in November 2010, they have lost the appeal in a similar case. Film producer Eyeworks had sued the Internet forum, because they offered links to illegal downloads of a popular Dutch film. The court then ruled that FTD did not violate copyrights to the movie, but it acted unlawfully by systematically encouraging the illegal uploading of the footage. FTD had to remove all references to the movie.<o:p></o:p><o:p> </o:p>

According Stichting Brein, FTD is the largest Dutch Internet community for filesharing, where nearly half a million users find and download illegal files. This will now come to an end. For Brein, this is a great success. The Brein Foundation is a Dutch lobby for protecting the rights and interests of the entertainment industry and had initiated the lawsuit in Haarlem.<o:p></o:p><o:p> </o:p>

Sources: Nu.nl, Tweakers.net<o:p></o:p>