Finland | Finreactor
FINNISH SUPREME COURT DECISION - 30 June 2010
The Finnish Supreme Court granted leave to appeal in two of the end users cases (there were total 28 end user cases; most active upp loaders from different categories). In both cases the Supreme court ruled for the favor of right holders. In this particular case the defendant did not even have the content on his own computer, he had just moved a torrent file from on other tracker to the Finreactor tracker. In court's opinion it did not matter:
"11. Mr Karsikas has not himself kept the content files referred to in the charge, that is, the game files, on his own computer nor allowed other users of the file sharing network to download files from his computer. Instead, he has transmitted torrent files that he has located elsewhere onto the file sharing network in the present case, with the precise purpose of making the games available to other network users.
12. The uploading of a torrent file onto the Finreactor network has not in itself been sufficient for the content files to be made available to the network users; in addition, it has been necessary that a corresponding content file has resided somewhere on a computer of a Finreactor network user. That said, it is precisely the uploading of torrent files onto the Finreactor network that has been key for the distribution of content files from the computer of one network user to the others in accordance with the operating principles of the network. The torrent files pointing to the content files have designated the content files that have been available for download, and the torrent files have also been the means by which individual content files on one network user’s computer have been made available to other users. Hence, because the torrent files relating to specified content files have been necessary for making the respective content files available to the public, the uploading of a torrent file, in the context of violations committed by means of the Finreactor network, is held to be an act significant in terms of copyright and in terms of the fulfilment of the constituent elements of a copyright violation."