There is plenty of music, audiobooks, movies, e-books, video games and other content on the Internet, but not all of it is legal. Copyright states: If the provider makes content “manifestly illegal” publicly available, not only is the unauthorized exchange and forwarding, but already the downloading a copyright infringement. In some cases, however, it is not so easy to distinguish legal from illegal offers.
HOW DO I DETECT ILLEGAL DOWNLOADS AND STREAMING OFFERS?
What exactly does “manifestly illegal” mean? The law itself does not define this in more detail. But “obviously” means, among other things, that you do not have to do lengthy research as a layman. However, if, for example, you find entire music albums for download in a forum before the official release, you can assume that they have been made available “obviously illegally”. Indications of illegal offers on the Internet may be:
- The offer is free, although the same content costs money elsewhere.
- The technical quality of the content is poor.
- You cannot identify those responsible for the website, for example because the imprint is missing or contact persons and addresses are not mentioned.
- The website has an exotic country identifier in the address.
- It is advertised aggressively and frivolously, for example for gambling, sex hotlines or dubious merit models.
- The offer does not correspond to the often still usual chain of exploitation, according to which, for example, a film is only made available online when it is no longer running in the cinema. However, there are exceptions here, although mostly only for paid offers.
- You will be asked to purchase a special download software or install it before downloading it. These points apply to all works – films, music, games and e-books, but they are ultimately only circumstantial evidence. If an offer has one of these markings, you should take a closer look. It does not automatically mean that an offer is illegal.
CAN I STREAM MOVIES FROM ILLEGAL PLATFORMS?
It is not yet legally clear whether, in addition to the providers, users also infringe copyright when they watch illegally posted films on the Internet via streaming. In contrast to the download, streaming usually does not store a permanent, complete video file on your own computer. Instead, volatile copies are created in memory. These are copies that are only temporarily stored while watching a movie via streaming. The European Court of Justice has already ruled on such a situation in the case of external streaming players, which allow films from illegal online sources to be played directly on the TV. He decided that the copies produced in the process were not used “lawfully” and were therefore not permitted. However, many copyright holders agree that the Court’s statements can easily be transferred to other streaming constellations. It is therefore to be assumed that streaming retrieval is prohibited if users know that it cannot be a legal offer.
WHAT CAN I DOWNLOAD FROM FILEHOSTER?
Even those who download protected content via a file hoster such as Zippyshare or Uploaded.net must be careful. If it is clearly recognizable that the provider of the works has no rights for publication, the download is not allowed. On the other hand, it is legal to exchange content in a purely private context via Filehoster. The condition is that the music files, films or other works themselves have been legally acquired, i.e. not from a manifestly illegal source. Here the private copy rule applies. Private framework means that only close friends and family members can access the files.
SHOULD I AVOID FREE OFFERS AND DOWNLOADS IN GENERAL?
No, even if files are offered outside the well-known sales platforms, the offers are not automatically illegal. Anyone can legally publish self-made photos, videos or texts on the Internet. Many artists put excerpts of their work online, for example on their own website. Some also publish entire works along the way. These offers may be used legally by others under copyright or licensing provisions. However, one should be attentive when the same work is offered in a comparable form elsewhere for money. If, for example, a band puts their own pieces of music online as an advertisement, then you can also download them. In any event, this is not a ‘manifestly illegal source’. You can visit iptv to get your favorite contents at the lowest price.