Swedish Government proposes tougher copyright legislation

Thursday, 26 June 2003

The Swedish Government has put forward a new proposal that would tighten up existing copyright legislation in Sweden. Included in the proposals is a requirement that the author's permission must always be obtained prior to a song, film, photo or text being made available on the Internet. The effect of the guidelines would impact copying through peer-to-peer programs, such as Kazaa, which are currently legal in Sweden. Under the proposals, file-sharing programs as well as programs which make it possible to avoid the copy protection on film and CDs would be prohibited.
The legislative initiative aims to put into place the EC Directive 2001/29/EC and the government hopes to have the new rules in place by January 2004. Breaches in the law may result in fines or, with regards to traffic in organised forms, imprisonment of up to 2 years.

Source: Baker & McKenzie Global E-Law Alert