In a blow to Italy's campaign against piracy, a Rome court has ruled that the unauthorized downloading of copyrighted movies, music and video games is not a crime if the downloader does not profit from the action.
In 2005, a Turin court sentenced two men to a year in jail and fined them several hundred euros for using a computer server at the Turin Polytechnic Institute to store and distribute copies of video games, films and CDs in 1999.
The jail time was cut to three months on appeal. But last week, a Supreme Court judge overturned the sentence completely, saying the act wasn't criminal because the duo saw no commercial gain.
In 2003, Silvio Berlusconi's government passed one of Europe's toughest copyright laws, modeled on the EU's copyright directive, passing down stiff fines for commercial pirates and individual downloaders. But the law is rarely enforced and authorities struggle against film and music piracy from organized crime groups and individuals.
Fimi, Italy's trade group for professional musicians, on Monday downplayed the Supreme Court decision saying it would have little impact on the anti-piracy law as the two men were charged under an older, weaker law.
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