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Swiss copyright law: what can and can’t I download? (www.digitec.ch)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

In some European countries, the authorities are taking rigorous action against film and music piracy. Even downloading a single file can lead to fines, criminal proceedings and warnings.

In Switzerland, the legal situation is somewhat different. Here, you can download or stream certain content from the internet without paying for it under certain circumstances.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 11 months ago (1 children)

In Switzerland, individuals are still free to download whatever files they like for their own private use (except for software and video games).

Note that uploading or seeding a copyrighted work, which was a misdemeanor under the previous law, remains illegal.

source: With P2P law, Switzerland reaffirms its commitment to privacy

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (3 children)

What makes Software different? Is there specific law for it?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

I found a number of articles specifically stating that video games and software remain illegal. Unfortunately I couldn't pinpoint the specific part of the law as they appear to br written in French and was running into hurdles with Google Translate character limits that I couldn't be bothered to work around.

I'm not sure if it's explicitly illegal or if music, videos, etc are explicitly exempted, or if software etc is different due to terms of service for example.

Furthermore, it's illegal for anyone to record your IP address torrenting a work and track you down that way as it violates Swiss data protection laws.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

There is a specific paragraph in the law stating that computer programms are exempt from private use:
"Dieser Artikel findet keine Anwendung auf Computerprogramme."

So somehow they specifically excluded computer programs from the article that allows you to download and use everything for yourself.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

See my other comment, it's explicitely stated in 19.4 of the Act on Copyright

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

4 This Article does not apply to computer programs.