VZCZCXRO2802
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHMD #1206 3561249
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221249Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1588
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 4273
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS MADRID 001206 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/WE AND EEB/TPP/IPE 
STATE PASS USTR FOR D.WEINER AND J.GROVES 
STATE ALSO PASS U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE FOR M.PALLANTE AND 
M.WOODS 
COMMERCE FOR 4212/DON CALVERT 
COMMERCE ALSO FOR PTO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIPR SP
SUBJECT: GOS CONTINUES IPR ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS 
 
REF: MADRID 1161 
 
1.(U) Although the fate of the GOS proposal to empower 
administrative authorities to close websites that promote 
unauthorized file-sharing remains uncertain (reftel), the GOS 
continues to take actions to enforce existing IPR laws.  As 
of mid-December, the National Police had detained 107 people 
for IPR crimes during 2009, as well as confiscating around 
1.2 million pirated CDs and DVDs, 765 recorders, and 67 
recording towers.  About 80% of the individuals detained were 
accused of copying and/or selling unauthorized material 
physically, not online.  Most Internet-related detentions 
were related to one of two areas: websites that facilitated 
downloading of unauthorized material, and sellers of 
"informatic equipment" on which they had installed illicitly 
downloaded software.  In one instance, police detained two 
people and dismantled 8 servers containing 30,000 movie, 
television, and musical works for peer-to-peer file sharing. 
Over 500 members of the group's "video club" had paid 20 
euros per month for access. 
 
2.(U) Separately, a 19-year-old arrested December 2 in the 
city of Valladolid may become the first Spaniard convicted of 
an online IPR crime.  The young man, reported to have been 
well-known on movie filesharing pages, was arrested as the 
result of a complaint by the audiovisual producers, rights 
management association (EGEDA) that led to a months-long 
investigation by the Castilla y Leon police force's 
Technological Investigation Group.  He is alleged to have 
placed first-run Spanish movies on storage and sharing sites 
and received around 1,500 dollars over four months in return 
for the downloads.  The young man, who has gone on sites to 
urge his peers to think twice before uploading unauthorized 
material, faces a sentence of 6 months to 4 years and a 
possible fine. 
 
3.(U) In addition, the national police detained earlier this 
month four people who filmed movies clandestinely in the city 
of Alicante and later distributed them online.  Police 
sources estimated that the hundred of films distributed by 
the group had cost the works' owners some five million euros. 
 A press article cites them as saying this could be the 
largest operation against movie piracy in Europe to date. 
CHACON