Brain settles with man who put music on Usenet

Brein has reached a settlement with a man who put recent music albums on Usenet. The foundation asked a Usenet provider to hand over the uploader’s data, which then did.

The uploader has reached a settlement of 10,000 euros to avoid a lawsuit. Brein claims that the man was responsible for uploading the latest albums by Ed Sheeran, Justin Timberlake and Bløf to usenet. Brein does not provide further details about the extent of the copyright infringement, but the foundation speaks of a ‘large-scale uploader’.

Brain director Tim Kuik acknowledges that most uploaders share files selflessly and are only after status. He focuses on usenet providers: “Such providers like to close their eyes and claim that they do not know what is happening on their servers and only take action when they receive a notification.”

The foundation obtained the uploader’s data after the Usenet provider complied with a request to hand over the information. Last year it appeared from a judgment in a case between Eweka and Brein that a Usenet provider must hand over the data at the moment when there is evident infringing action, there is a real interest in preventing further infringements via the issuance and there is no less radical alternative is to retrieve the data.