Policy Observatory
Dutch copyright enforcement body is pushing developers to take down open source software
As previously reported on the EDRi website two Danish citizens were arrested and charged with “distributing information and instructions about illegal content” for publishing a website with information about the popular culture sharing tool Popcorn Time, which does not even contain links to infringing content. Now the content industry’s Dutch copyright enforcement body BREIN has pushed two Dutch developers of the open source tool into taking their software down from Github, a popular development platform for software, and to enter into contractual agreements with BREIN, on the basis of claims that they would face severe penalties if they resume development of the software.
Country: Netherlands
Domains: IPR
Stakeholder: Government
Tags: copyright enforcement, illegal content, open source software, Netherlands