European Court: No more illegal downloading

The cabinet has put a direct ban on downloading material such as films, series or music from illegal sources, as announced by the ministry of Justice. "starting today, downloading from illegal sources is forbidden", confirms spokesperson of Safety and Justice Wiebe Alkema to NU.nl and Tweakers. Earlier, The Netherlands only had a levy in place on home copies on, for example, smartphones, mp3 players, tablets and blank DVD's. That levy, which holders of author's copyright had to compensate for, is insufficient according to the European Court. Dutch policy would lead to unfair competition. The European High Court states that a law that does not differentiate between copies for private use that have been purchased from lawful sources, and copies for private use that were taken from fake or illegal sources, cannot be supported.