In yet another decision that expands the reach of copyrights, the founder of the fan subbing site Undertexter.se was found guilty of copyright infringement in a Swedish court. This site was one of the most prominent in Sweden until it was shut down in 2013 and Eugen Archy, the site's founder was arrested.
Archy could have faced jail time, but the decision of the court was a more lenient, and sentenced him to probation and a fine of 217,000 Swedish Kroner ($27,000). That fine will be paid from advertisement revenue from the website and from donations. Archy didn't believe that making subtitles available for free was infringement, and said as much during the trial, but that didn't prove to be an argument that held much weight in court.
I see this decision as an overreach of copyright. Too often there is no economic benefit for making subtitles available in languages that are not widespread. How many major American films come with Basque or Albanian subtitles? By providing these subtitles for free, many can enjoy films from all over the world, and this exchange of ideas and culture surely benefits all of us. It even provides more interest and demand for films, which has direct, positive effect for film studios. This type of prosecution is short sighted, and a desire to control everything hurts the studios as much as it has any type of value for them.
You can read more on the story at TorrentFreak.
