A court in Potsdam, Germany, has declared the infamous Redtube streaming warning letters, which were sent before Christmas, illegal.
Redtube: streaming warning letters
The infamous wave of warning letters sent by the German law firm, Urmann & Collegen, accusing internet users of infringing German copyright law through the use of the streaming website Redtube, is increasingly proving to be an own goal.
A court in Potsdam Germany, recently ruled that internet users should never have received such warning letters.
The news comes from an article by the lawyer Alexander Hufendiek. The lawyer also represents Redtube users who received warning letters sent by Urmann & Collegen on behalf of The Archive AG.
According to the contribution, the Potsdam court entered a default judgment after neither Urmann & Collegen lawyers, nor representatives from The Archive AG, turned up to the hearing. During the session, the court declared explicitly that the streaming warning letters had been sent illegally. The judgment is not yet legally binding.
Partner and German lawyer at WILDE BEUGER SOLMECKE, Christian Solmecke, gave his initial assessment of the judgment, “The judgment by the Potsdam court is another important indication that Redtube users should never have received the streaming warning letters. A law firm is only permitted to seek the personal details of internet users through the disclosure procedure if copyright infringements are committed through file sharing.
This could not be said for the Redtube case, as viewing videos through streaming does not amount to illegal dissemination of files over the internet.
This is why the Cologne Regional Court already overturned numerous disclosure orders in January 2014 (case ref. 209 O 188/13).”
In my opinion, those who received streaming warning letters in the Redtube case, have a good chance of obtaining compensation from Urmann + Collegen.”
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