“Is illegal personal download legal?” Swiss Copyright Law Amendment

Switzerland passed a new copyright law amendment on September 16th. While the amendment strengthens the crackdown on illegal content, it is legal for users to personally download illegally.

In the EU parliament, the crackdown on copyright violations has been strengthened than before, approved by the amendment to the copyright law guidelines that strongly protect copyright on the Internet. On the other hand, Switzerland, a non-EU member, is politically separated from the EU and has its own legislation without following the rules of the EU.

In Switzerland, there was a move to revise the copyright law in 2017. However, it was not passed this time, as some complaints were received from the USTR of the US Trade Representative. The problem with the USTR is that it does not matter if individuals illegally download web services such as BitTorrent in the Swiss amendment.

Compared to EU countries where copyright protection movements are rising rapidly, Switzerland has established relatively loose copyright protection regulations. For this reason, some say that Switzerland is an attractive place for illegal sites. There were also complaints from the USTR, but on September 16, the Swiss Parliament passed a bill to amend the copyright law. The amendment is not subject to punishment even for illegal downloads by individual users on sites that distribute illegal pirated versions, and those who have downloaded pirated versions of illegal movies can continue to obtain the illegal version in the future. Of course, illegal uploading of pirated versions is prohibited.

Also, what the USTR considers a problem is that the amendment does not block illegal sites. In the EU, illegal sites are widely blocked, but in Switzerland Internet service providers do not need to block. In addition, it seems that the law enforcement power against piracy is growing, as it can force a hosting company based in Switzerland to delete illegal content from the server.

Nevertheless, the amendment does not force users to check whether content posted on online platforms is protected by copyright, and criticism continues to be raised that Switzerland’s copyright protection is inexorable. Related information can be found here .