I am pretty sure that you have heard about the ruckus that the Pirate Bay trial created. In the past several weeks, that’s all that many people could talk about; and why not? Pirate Bay has been around for so long that a lot of Internet users consider it part of the virtual landscape. Anyhow, the trial is over, and a new anti-file sharing law was passed in Sweden as a result.
Dubbed the IPRED law, it has made such a strong and positive impact on the legal downloading industry in the country. According to local reports, music sales have increased by a stupendous 100 percent in the days after the IPRED law was passed! The sales include those that were downloaded on PCs and mobile phones.
Ice News provides more details:
The Local newspaper reports that the company InProdicon is one of Sweden’s main legal file download companies. It provides around half of all downloaded music purchased within Sweden through its online and mobile phone services in conjunction with clients such as Telia, Tele2, Ahlens and MTV.
“The first week after the introduction of IPRED, sales increased by 100 percent compared to the previous weeks. I don’t know if this is only because of IPRED, but it is definitely a sign of a major change,†said InProdicon’s managing director Klas Brannstrom.
While the law and the results have a lot of implications, one thing is pretty clear to me: it seems to be effective in increasing legal downloads. I wouldn’t be surprised if more countries follow suit.