The Yonkis Series case is considered the most significant trial to date regarding the downloading of content protected by intellectual property rights in Spain.
More than a decade after the first complaint was filed, the Murcia Criminal Court issued its ruling in June. For seven years (from 2007 to 2014), the websites “seriesyonkis.com,” “peliculasyonkies.com,” and “videosyonkis.com” provided links to movies and TV series that attracted a large number of visitors.
The prosecution, the Audiovisual Producers' Rights Management Organization (EGEDA), and the now-defunct Anti-Piracy Federation (FAP)—which represented the affected production companies and distributors—sought up to 546 million euros in damages from several defendants for a continuing intellectual property offense, as well as prison sentences ranging from two to four years.
The ruling acquitted the defendants of the intellectual property offense for various reasons, particularly because their activity was not yet a criminal offense at that time.
Since the alleged acts took place prior to the 2015 amendment to the Penal Code, which added the following paragraph to Article 270: “The same penalty shall be imposed” on anyone who, “with the intent to obtain a direct or indirect economic benefit, for the purpose of facilitating third parties’ access to a copy of a literary, artistic, or scientific work, or to its adaptation, interpretation, or artistic performance, fixed in any medium or communicated through any means, and without authorization from the intellectual property rights holders or their assignees, circumvents or facilitates the circumvention of effective technological measures put in place to prevent such access,” the judge ruled that those responsible cannot be charged with a crime since the websites operated until 2014, when their activity was not yet a criminal offense.
The ruling by the Murcia Criminal Court is not final, and an appeal may be filed against it with the Murcia Provincial Court. EGEDA has already announced that it will file an appeal.
N.B. Spanish version of the article published on the Kluwer Copyright Blog
Author:Inés de Casas