FTD is a provider of a Usenet Application which allows people to spot posts on Usenet (to find content more easily). Dutch TV producer Eyeworks found out that through FTD’s application its film ‘A Woman Visits the Doctor’ [Komt een vrouw bij de dokter] could be downloaded via Usenet. Eyeworks claimed that by facilitating an infringement on its copyright, FTD actually infringed upon Eyeworks’s copyright itself.
In a groundbreaking ruling in summary proceedings, which is published here in English (the Dutch original can be found here), the court of The Hague in The Netherlands accepted Eyework’s claim. The court found that the relevant question is ‘whether the behavior of FTD allows users to download copyrighted files (in an easier manner) and that it thus makes such files in fact available to the public.’ The court concluded that FTD indeed infringed [Read more…] about Eyeworks vs. FTD – Dutch Court rules that Facilitating Infringement by Providing Usenet Application Leads to a Direct Copyright Infringement
