Man in Germany Asked to Pay N2.6 Million After His Friend Downloaded Movies Online Using His Laptop

• A man living in Germany said he is battling a case of copyright after his friend downloaded two movies in the country
• He said he was not the one who watched the movies, but the IP address was traced to his computer, and he was fined N2.6 million
• The man, Baluku Walter, said he had to hire a lawyer to help him battle the case, and he ended up spending N1.9 million

A man who was new in Germany said a friend used his laptop to download movies online.

A few weeks later, he received letters from the owners of the movies asking him to pay for copyright infringement.

The man, Baluku Walter, said the movies downloaded by his friend belonged to Warner Brothers.

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He noted that he was asked to pay €1800 (N2.6 million) for the two movies.

Baluku said he protested and hired a lawyer to handle the case for him, and the money was slashed down to €1300 ( N1.9 million).

He said the N1.9 million he was asked to pay included the legal fees he incurred while battling the case.

In a TikTok video, Baluku warned people new to Germany not to download movies online as it is a crime.

Is it illegal to download movies in Germany?

Legit.ng checked online to see if the law exists in Germany, and snippets of information suggest it does.

An article published by All About Berlin states:

"When you torrent movies, your IP address is visible to others. Some law firms monitor torrents of famous movies, and collect the IP addresses of people who download them. If they see your IP address, they can ask your ISP to give them your real address. They can send you an Abmahnung: a formal request to pay them between €500 and €1,500."

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Reactions as man pays fine in Germany

@Kofi Capo said:

"Got a fine of 900 euros for the same reason, I never paid and haven’t heard from them in about 6 months."

@Jeremiah said:

"I learnt a lesson from you today thanks for sharing."

Another resident of Germany pays fine

In a related story, a lady living in Germany said she did not know it was against the law to randomly download copyrighted movies online in Germany.

She said she used her husband's phone to download one movie on a website, and her husband was fined €1200.

Some people in her comment section said a similar thing had happened to someone they knew in Germany.

Source: Legit.ng