MP2P Technologies Wins Historic Ruling Against Copyright Conglomerates
MP2P Technologies Wins Historic Ruling Against Copyright Conglomerates
Madrid, Spain (PRWEB) December 19, 2011
MP2P Technologies announced that it has won a decisive and profound victory ruled by a Spanish court earlier today (Case No 00244/2011 Madrid Commercial Court No. 4.) After years of litigation, the final ruling was issued today against the world’s largest major record companies, SONY, WARNER, UNIVERSAL, EMI, and the local PROMUSICAE, in favor of the young entrepreneur who was sued for creating innovative file-sharing programs on the Internet. The suit sought to make him responsible for the possible violations of the millions of users who download music and exchange music files using those applications.
The ruling, by the Madrid Commercial Court No. 4, entirely rejects the accusation of the plaintiff and demands financial compensation to the defendant.
“We are extremely grateful to the court for finding not only in our favor, but in favor of justice, innovation and in equal access to digital distribution,” said Pablo Soto, founder and CEO of MP2P Technologies. “The copyright conglomerates would like to stifle innovation but today’s significant ruling against this tactic echoes around the globe.”
In July 2008, the major record companies and PROMUSICAE, who joined the suit soon afterwards, sued developer Pablo Soto and his companies. The trial was held in Madrid in 2009 and today’s final ruling totally favors the Spanish developer.
The lawsuit, which labeled the P2P tools as “weapons of mass destruction” and Pablo Soto as “the great betrayer of the P2P cause”, filed up to nine exhibits to prove their flawed thesis. However, after many years of proceedings and a 15-hour trial, the ruling is completely in agreement with the legal position held by the defendant stating that the development of a technology that can be used by individuals for sharing music is not an intellectual property violation.
The court, despite the statements presented by the plaintiff, considers Pablo Soto’s activities and his companies to be absolutely transparent, and it further states that it is undisputed that the defendant did not offer or store music files and that the “final rulings to date” also agree that “under no circumstances [it is a violation] the mere fact of providing such conduct” of sharing music.
The Soto case holds international relevance, as it is part of the overall litigation strategy utilized by the international record companies against any tech developer they deem harmful to their interests. The case is followed closely by scholars from around the world and raises the legal tension produced between software developers and multinational companies who hold intellectual property content, claiming to have the monopolistic control over all distribution channels.
Related documents:
Ruling: http://estaticos.elmundo.es/documentos/2011/12/19/sentencia_pablo_soto.pdf
Video of the interrogation by the defendant http://youtu.be/ZpgtPphSIWo
About the defense
The defense of Pablo Soto and his companies has been conducted by attorneys at law Jose Ignacio Aguilar, David Bravo and Javier de la Cueva, who also took part in other cases against record companies and related cases such as the Sharemula case, which won a favorable resolution to a web linking to P2P networks and the indice-web.com case, first linking website to obtain a firm and favorable civil ruling.
About Pablo Soto
Considered one of the “fathers of P2P”, along with Justin Frankel (Gnutella) and Shawn Fanning (Napster), is one of the most influential Spanish developers in the internet space as described by El Mundo. Pablo frequently participates in national and international forums, and in some opportunities, has taught as a guest professor at several public universities. He has received several awards both in Spain and overseas, and in 2009, was given the Pioneer Award from the Distributed Computing International Association (DCIA).
About MP2P Technologies
Technological innovations introduced by MP2P Technologies have been downloaded by millions of users from around the globe. Founded by renowned developer Pablo Soto in 2000, MP2P Technologies remains an industry leader in the P2P space and consumer technology. MP2P Technologies is based in Madrid, Spain. For more information, please visit http://www.mp2p.net
Contact:
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NVPR
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