18/12/2008

The Swedish Parliament is on the verge of ratifying a much-awaited new law against file sharing over the Internet, to break the country’s image as a “safe harbour for pirates” and to protect rights owners’ earning potential (read the text).

Sweden is one of the world’s most developed countries in broadband connection (71% of households) as well as one the most exposed to piracy. Around 81 million illicit downloads take place in the Nordic countries each year, of which 47 million in Sweden. Unlike its Nordic neighbours and other EU countries, Sweden has not yet adopted the EU Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) approved by the EU in 2004. But a new law is being drafted that could improve the situation.

Under the new law, set to come into force next April if approved by Parliament, copyright holders could get a court order requesting Internet Service Providers (IPS) to provide IP addresses if they suspect Internet users of illegal file sharing. This would allow them to contact those users and start legal proceedings to ask for financial compensation.

The law was welcomed by the local film industry as a step in the right direction, although it was criticised for its shortcomings. Producer Anna Croneman (Bob Film), vice-president of the Swedish Producers Association, said that that the trade body was “worried that the proposed limitations to the scope of the new law will send a signal to the public that illegal downloading to a lesser extent is OK, which it is not.”

John Nordling, producer of Let the Right One In [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: John Nordling
interview: Tomas Alfredson
film profile], which was available for illegal downloading only ten days after its Swedish theatrical release, wants to go even further. “The industry itself has to change its way of doing business,” he said. “A film should be available for legal downloading at the same time as its theatrical release. This will compromise the existing business model with different windows for distribution, but I cannot see any other way. Otherwise we will just watch our industry collapse, the way the music industry did.”