Corruption in Dutch copyright court

The FTD case in Netherlands keeps getting uglier.

The original case was weird enough – that a judge would pass verdict against a mere forum, saying that discussing file names is legally the same thing as publishing the files behind the names and therefore committing copyright infringement. The forum FTD was therefore ordered shut down by judge Chris Hensen in what was the weirdest precedent yet in the case series of Copyright Dinosaurs vs. Reality.

Now, however, news have surfaced that show that the judge was corrupt and the case all but predecided. It turns out that the lawyer for the copyright lobby, Dirk Visser (who has previously represented the infamous BREIN against Mininova), is actively running an anti-piracy business together with the judge. The following brochure for an expensive course, taking place just one week after the FTD case, was published by the Embedded Citizen today:

109694747

So not only were the judge and the Lobby’s lawyer personally acquainted, they actually work together and are financially dependent on strong copyright in a common business. If there ever was corruption in a court case… I can’t think of anything making it worse short of the Lobby lawyer actually paying the judge during the trial (instead of one week later).

This is probably the worst case of court case corruption I have ever seen, but it is still not surprising. There is no low the copyright lobby won’t sink to, and Dutch BREIN are among the worst of them all, together with Danish APG.

Rick Falkvinge

Rick is the founder of the first Pirate Party and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. He lives on Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Germany, roasts his own coffee, and as of right now (2019-2020) is taking a little break.

Discussion

  1. […] verdetti più sconcertanti nella lunga guerra Reptilia contro Realtà. Oggi, tuttavia, Falkvinge comunica che sono emerse le prove che mostrano come il giudice Hansen sia un socio d’affari […]

  2. jeffer

    Everything the copyright lobby touches get corrupted – like a plague. Politicians, bureaucrats, courts… Then all other societal considerations and citizens rights are subordinated.

  3. Jävskandal! « Sysadminbloggen

    […] har nyligen bestämt att publiceringen av filnamn i ett forum är upphovsrättsbrott. Han håller kurser tillsammans med målsägarsidan där man lär kursdeltagarna hur man bäst sätter dit […]

  4. Urban Sundström

    Digged on: http://digg.com/politics/Dutch_copyright_judge_had_business_with_lobby_s_lawyer

    When do you get a Flatter button ?

    Regards, Urb an

  5. Peter Andersson

    Maybe the system can only get corrupt judges to take these cases in the first place because the honest ones think they’re just crap cases to begin with and that they personally are smart when they stay away from them.

    If so they haven’t taken the now overall among young people fast, fast eroding respect for their profession into consideration.

    Honest judges need to stand up and say to each other; “we need to take these cases ourselves – before the general populace start to think of us all as some sort of meter maids…”

  6. Erik Ernst

    laywers and judges are part of unions, one of the greatest called ABA – American Bar Association, now what group a laywer belongs to, and you know the output of a given case.

    I know it makes me sound like a fool, but courtcases are not about justice, but are merely a game.

    Most people who understand this, never take a case all the way to the court, but seek a settlement before…

  7. P2PTalk » Bias Claims Overshadow Landmark Anti-Piracy Ruling

    […] Falkvinge, who’s currently supporting his Dutch colleagues in the election run, has been the most vocal about the […]

  8. Bias Claims Overshadow Landmark Anti-Piracy Ruling | We R Pirates

    […] Falkvinge, who’s currently supporting his Dutch colleagues in the election run, has been the most vocal about the […]

  9. kenny_lex

    Skall vi göra Falkvinges blogg olaglig i Tyskland?

    “I Love You Phillip Morris DVDRip XviD-UNSKiLLED”

    1. kenny_lex

      Doh! Så skrev man fel land, men ni förstår nog ändå.

  10. gastlind

    Totally Awful that they are actually doing that.. 1 or 2 days before the election too… Hope some people read about that and act on it now! Maybe it can be enough to give Pirate Party there a small boost. =)

  11. Putte

    För h-e Rick. Vårda språket. Svenskar är inte medvetna om hur extremt grovt det är att använda ordet f-cking på engelska. De som gör det blir omedelbart stigmatiserade som gettoslödder och oavsett hur angeläget budskap man har kommer debatten enbart att handla om att avsändaren av budskapet använde grovt poch vulgärt språkbruk.

    1. Bertil

      Jag håller med dig! Rick borde genast be om ursäkt och ta tydlig ställning för censur av ordet f-ck på hela Internet så att vi kan säkerställa att denna djupa kränkning aldrig någonsin skall kunna återupprepas.

      TÄNK PÅ BARNEN!!!

  12. Bias Claims Overshadow Landmark Anti-Piracy Ruling « SYSTEMA

    […] Rick Falkvinge, who’s currently supporting his Dutch colleagues in the election run, has been the most vocal about the […]

  13. Kenny B

    Sluta snacka skit Putte. Har du sett film från förenta staterna måhända?

    Dåså. Jävla dumputte.

    1. Putte

      I amerikansk TV censureras denna typ av ord bort med ett pip. Man kan tycka vad man vill om denna typ av överreaktion, men PPs möjlighet att få ut sitt budskap försvåras om det blir en sidodebatt om PP:s vulgära språkbruk. Det är svårt nog bara att ha vårt partinamn.

      1. kenny_lex

        Vad som anses vara vulgärt beroende mer på åhörarna än på talarna och nu undrar jag vad det är som du anser är vulgärt i Piratpartiets språkbruk.

        Att ord censureras i USA beror på att de har en stor grupp kristna fundamentalister med ständig moralpanik, för de förbjuder exempelvis ordet tits (som är ett slangord för bröst), men inte inte andra slangord för som exempelvis boobies, titties, jugs, hooters, bosoms eller tit-tats.

      2. pwq

        kenny_lex, jag hoppas verkligen att runda ord inte är en del av _piratpartiets_ språkbruk. Det faktum att någon anser det vara vulgärt är skäl nog att undvika dem, eftersom språkbruket inte har något att göra med PP:s politiska idéer, och rimligen bara leder till minskat antal röster. De som gillar svordomar har normalt inga problem med de som inte använder sådana, så varför grumla budskapet?

        Jag är alldeles säker på att automatisk filtreringsmjukvara från US kommer att beteckna saker med “the f-word” som sexuellt stötande material och blockera detta vid någon inställning. Eftersom det ingår i FCC:s “seven dirty words” och i praktiken är förbjudet att framföra i amerikansk radio och TV, detta efter Supreme court-avgörandet 1978 i “FCC v. Pacifica Foundation”. Och, amerikanare i allmänhet anser, precis som Putte säger, att ordet sänker talaren.

        “Tits” står också på FCC:s lista, övriga ord du räknar upp gör det inte. Och i USA anser sig 98,5% vara religösa, huvuddelen kristna, och vill därför ogärna i onödan stöta sig med kristna fundamentalister. Använda svordomar är i onödan. Och det finns en hel del svenska medborgare födda i USA. Det är bara att gilla läget.

        Om man skriver debattartiklar är det dumt att använda ord som hämmar spridningen, inte sant? Och det har inget att göra med vad man anser om orden.

  14. Scary Devil Monastery

    Mentioning file names is the same as publishing the files and sharing them?

    Oh, God, I’m in trouble now…last week i discussed dirty bombs and nuclear weapons on a random blog…Am i going to guantanamo now? Halp!

  15. […] But, perhaps even more ridiculous is the news that the judge in the case also happened to teach classes on intellectual property where his boss was the lawyer representing the movie studios. Under just about any normal system, you would think that this would reason enough for a judge to […]

  16. […] But, perhaps even more ridiculous is the news that the judge in the case also happened to teach classes on intellectual property where his boss was the lawyer representing the movie studios. Under just about any normal system, you would think that this would reason enough for a judge to […]

  17. Bias Claims Overshadow Landmark Anti-Piracy Ruling

    […] Falkvinge, who’s currently supporting his Dutch colleagues in the election run, has been the most vocal about the […]

  18. Rick

    Yup, that’s pretty disgusting. Spreading it via Twitter as we write.

  19. […] Falkvinge, who’s currently supporting his Dutch colleagues in the election run, has been the most vocal about the […]

  20. […] uitspraak heeft veel stof doen opwaaien. Volgens FTD is de opmerkelijke uitspraak het gevolg van belangenverstrengeling […]

  21. Support at NLJO

    The Netherlands Justice Ombudsman is aware of Judicial Corruption in civil cases in the Netherlands:-

    http://www.nljo.org

  22. mark

    Sad… at least they’re being brought to justice though.

  23. […] morning, @Kanarieman pointed me to an article of my own from 2010: just under two years ago, another very strange case went down in the […]

  24. […] werd door een Twitteraar op een artikel van hemzelf gewezen van twee jaar geleden. In dit artikel schrijft hij dat uit een folder blijkt […]

  25. […] morning, @Kanarieman forked me to an article of my possess from 2010: usually underneath dual years ago, another really bizarre box went down in […]

  26. […] is dat Falkvinge de rechter in de zaak tegen de Piratenpartij corrupt heeft genoemd. Deze rechter beunde tot een paar jaar terug namelijk nog bij met het geven van cursussen over auteursrecht en intellectueel eigendom, samen met advocaten die […]

  27. […] morning, @Kanarieman pointed me to an article of my own from 2010: just under two years ago, another very strange case went down in the […]

  28. […] morning, @Kanarieman pointed me to an article of my own from 2010: just under two years ago, another very strange case went down in the […]

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