green light has been given to the Spanish Government’s project to close down any web page which is found to be infringing copyright law.

Green light has been given to the Spanish Government’s project to close down any web page which is found to be infringing copyright law.

Under the legislation the Ministry for Culture would handle and complaints via a new body called the Intellectual Property Commission, and then pass on the information to the National Court which would then have to make a ruling and decide to issue a court order to close the web down within four days or to order that its content be blocked. The website owner will be consulted at the time of the initial complaint and will also have the right to appeal should the site be blocked.The legislation is part of the new Sustainable Economy Law which is currently being modified. Minister for Justice, Fernando Caamaño, said that the new legislation would allow for citizens to place a complaint which would then be investigated and then the judge would be informed so that appropriate action can be taken. He said that a modification of the Judicial Power Organic Law would also be needed in what he said would be the most agile way of dealing with the problem while protecting fundamental rights.Internet users associations are already complaining on social network sites that the law was a short cut that could even lead to the closure of Google.
But Joan Navarro, from the Creators Coalition, was happy at the news which he said to the EFE news agency would have a devastating effect on pirated content.