Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá 

Colombian student may face up to eight years in jail for sharing article

Diego Gómez is accused of violating 'economic and other rights', in what activists say is an 'absurd' application of copyright law
  
  


Colombian street vendors who openly hawk bootleg copies of computer games and films hardly ever get hassled by police. But in what open rights activists are calling an "absurd" application of copyright law, a 26-year-old student could face up to eight years in jail for posting a scholarly article on the internet for other academics to see.

Diego Gómez, a biologist working on reptile and amphibian conservation, is accused of violating "economic and other rights" after he uploaded a master's thesis by a fellow scholar to the text-sharing website Scribd four years ago.

Gómez found the paper while researching amphibians and reptiles at the National University. In a statement on the case, he said the sole purpose of posting it had been to share the information with other researchers who may not otherwise have access to it. "I thought it was something that others might be interested in," he wrote.

A year after the document was uploaded, the paper's author filed a criminal complaint against Gómez, who will go to trial on 2 September. "I'm disconcerted that this activity I did for academic purposes may be considered a crime, turning me into a criminal," wrote Gómez, who is now studying in Costa Rica.

Carolina Botero, director of Fundación Karisma, a Colombian digital rights group that is supporting Gómez, said Colombia's laws protecting intellectual property were too broadly worded. Colombia's penal code states that "reproducing, distributing supplying or offering a work without the permission of the author" is punishable by prison sentences of between four and eight years and fines of up to $327,000. By contrast, a sexual assault conviction carries a sentence of three to six years, and human trafficking four to six years.

"The wording of the law does not allow for sharing," Botero said, adding that the law was aimed at stopping commercial piracy. Gómez has said he made no money from posting the paper.

Colombia increased penalties for copyright infringement in 2006 as part of measures to comply with US demands under a free trade agreement. Colombia agreed to "provide strong, deterrent criminal penalties against copyright piracy".

US copyright law, however, is more specific. Criminal copyright infringement requires that the infringer acted "for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain."

Gómez and his lawyers hope that the judge will find there was no intention of violating the author's rights. "It's absurd that cases like Diego's come to this," said Botero. "But it serves to ignite the debate about the internet and open use policies."

 

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