Pablo Soto and his companies were sued for 13 million euros by the four major music groups and trade group Promusicae for providing file-sharing applications that profit from the exchange of copyrighted material. According to a report at El Mundo, the judges in the case ruled Soto and his companies offer a neutral technical function and found the plaintiffs are not actually in competition with the defendant.

Outgoing Spanish Prime Minister Fails To Enact Anti-Piracy Legislation

“We are extremely grateful to the court for finding not only in our favor, but in favor of justice, innovation and in equal access to digital distribution,” MP2P Technologies founder/CEO Pablo Soto said in a statement.

The court’s decision is sure to add to Spain’s reputation regarding piracy. Over the years the country’s approach to copyright has differed from many other Western countries. One Spanish judge likened P2P to lending books. Sites that offer file-sharing links to illegal content have been found to be legal in the country.

Spain’s recorded music revenue dropped precipitously as copyright owners’ legal defeats have mounted. According to the IFPI, music sales in Spain fell 21 percent in 2010 after losses of 14.3 percent in 2009, 7.4 percent in 2008, 19.9 percent in 2007 and 10 percent in 2006. Spain’s legal digital market is far weaker than its peers. In 2010, the per-capita value of the country’s digital recorded music market was just 78.2 cents. That lags far behind the per-capita digital revenue of the U.K. ($5.58), Sweden ($4.12), France ($2.25) and Germany ($2.17), according to figures available in the IFPI’s Recording Industry in Numbers 2011 report.

And there are worries that Spain’s faltering record business is harming local musicians. The IFPI notes that no new Spanish artist had a top 50 album in 2010, while 10 artists landed in the top 50 in 2003.

via Billboard.biz.

This new project marks IBERDROLA’s entry into the renewables market in Asturias, one of the few regions where the leading company in developing renewable energies in Spain did not have wind power facilities.

IBERDROLA is firmly committed to the development of wind energy in Asturias, where it already has in its portfolio projects with a combined capacity of some 160 MW, making it one of the leading companies in the sector in this region.

El Candal wind farm will be located between the municipalities of Castropol and Boal and the company’s subsidiary, IBERDROLA INGENIERÍA, will be in charge of both the construction and commissioning stages.

The technology used will be by Gamesa, making it IBERDROLA’s foremost supplier in this region as well. A total of 19 G80 model wind turbines are going to be installed, standing 67 metres high and with an 80m rotor diameter.

The work now being started by IBERDROLA follows the purchase of two wind power initiatives from various companies in Asturias last summer: the aforementioned El Candal and the Segregal wind farms, with have a combined capacity of 76 MW.

The two facilities are scheduled for commissioning next year, as they are part of the pre-allocated renewable energy facilities approved by the Government for completion before 31 December 2012.

Almost 100 people will have to be hired for the construction of these two wind farms and a further 20 new permanent jobs are expected to be created for the operation and maintenance stage. In this regard and as is the company’s usual policy, IBERDROLA will give priority to local companies in the region.

It should be highlighted that over 95% of the company’s wind farm operators in Spain are from the municipalities where they have been set up, normally in rural areas.

These wind farms are expected to be joined by a further three wind power facilities, which were awarded to IBERDROLA by the Government of the Principality of Asturias last year and together will account for a joint capacity of 80 MW. These are pending the new wind power regulations to come into force in Spain from 2013 onwards.

These three wind farms are: Regodeseves, 40 MW capacity and located in Villanueva de Oscos; Pico Cuiredo, 32 MW, located between the municipalities of Boal and Illano, and Pico Daviella, 8 MW, in Taramundi.

A judge in a court in Alicante has ordered two brothers to serve a year each in prison and pay a fine of 52,500 euro, after they were found to be selling duplicated and non original DVD´s in their stores.

Investigators found hundreds of copied DVD´s for sale, along with downloaded content, which contravened the laws of intellectual property, copyright and distribution.

Guardia Civil officers began the investigation when they raided a video store in Novelda in 2006. They found 234 fake DVD´s which the owners of the shop claimed must have been returned in replace of the original films that they had rented out to their clients. They also found hundreds of computer games, duplicated disks and equipment that could be used for copying the original or downloaded content. The pair also tried to claim that much of the collection was their own and for personal and not for profit use.

The Judge in the case did not believe the testaments of the men and considered that it was not plausible for so many pirated disks to have been returned by so many dubious clients.

Fox, Disney and Warner are all named in the case as they have suffered economical damage from the operation.

“The Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, some parts of Catalonia, Valencia and Murcia, as well as the south west region, have higher breast cancer death rates, although there is a trend towards the geographical differences disappearing”, Marina Pollán, one of the authors of the article published recently in the Annals of Epidemiology and head of the Cancer Epidemiology Department at the Carlos III Health Institute, tells SINC.

The research, which uses data gathered by the National Statistics Institute (INE) from 1975 to 2005 in all the Spanish provinces (except Ceuta and Melilla), divides patients into three age groups – those under 45, those between 45 and 64, and those over 65.

The results show that, until 1992, the death rate in women under 45 was higher in the Mediterranean and south west regions than in other parts of the country. From that year onwards, the deaths started to fall, although mortality rates are still “somewhat higher” in the south west.

A similar trend was seen among patients aged between 45 and 65, with the highest death rates being recorded in the north, the Mediterranean region, and the south west until 1995. Deaths among women aged over 65 were most significant in the north eastern provinces, the centre, south west and the northern part of the Mediterranean region, with this trend decreasing over the course of the study period.

via Research into Breast Cancer Evolution in Spain.

The unnamed individual obtained data on 4,000 gamers, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry.

It is claimed he threatened to contact the country’s data protection agency, accusing the firm of negligence.

When Nintendo did not respond, he began leaking some of the information online, said police.

The man was arrested in the southern province of Malaga.

Authorities say he had been planning to release the full contents of the user database onto the internet.

It is unclear if the alleged theft was from Nintendo’s own computer system or that of a third party.

Nintendo said it was unable to comment on the case as is was the subject of of an active investigation by the Spanish authorities.

via BBC News.

The association has drafted a letter to the President of the government, which complains about the overall operation of the supply of electricity to homes, from the privatization of the network to the overpriced wholesale rate that has caused this most recent increase.

The cost to an average home has already increased by up to 50% over the past 4 years, which many believe is unfair, especially under the recent financial burden that families are facing.

With the increase that has just been implemented, it is thought that the cost of electricity to an average home will increase by over 80 euro per year. This is an additional increase that the consumer association considers to be unfair and have stated that they have a duty to represent the needs of the end consumer and will do anything in their power to protect those most vulnerable.

Each monthly bill will rise an average of 6.77 euro, taking into account the retail price increase as well as tax and IVA, which is more than double the 3.20 euro increase that was announced by the government, who decided not to publish their figures publicly.

The consumer association monitored some 50,000 electric bills to work out the average increase, which they then based on a calculation of contracted capacity of 4.4 kW and a monthly consumption of 366 kWh.

via The Leader – News, Sport, Advertising, Property, Classifieds – Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Costa Calida, Costa de Almeria, Spain.

That became clear Monday when the new ambassadors from several South and Central American nations presented their credentials to Spain´s King Juan Carlos at a ceremony at the palace in Madrid.

The 73-year-old king was welcoming the new ambassador from Honduras, Norman Garcia Paz, when the slightly eerie sound of a giggling child rang out, El Pais newspaper reported.

The assembled ambassadors froze as they realized the incongruous sound was coming from a cell phone.

After a few seconds of uncertainty, His Majesty moved to a sideboard, reached in a drawer for his phone and put it on lock. He politely apologized, then smoothly resumed the meet-and-greet.

The king didn´t reveal what inspired his unusual ring tone, but he and Queen Sofia do have eight grandchildren. The youngest are the 5-year-old Infanta Leonor and 3-year-old Infanta Sofia, daughters of Crown Prince Felipe and Crown Princess Letizia, and 5-year-old Irene Urdangarin, daughter of Infanta Cristina.

It´s not the first time the Spanish monarch has made headlines for phone ring tones. At a summit in November 2007, Juan Carlos famously told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, “Why don´t you shut up?” The outburst was turned into a ring tone that became a hit across Spain.

via King Juan Carlos of Spain Has Very Silly Ring Tone.

Vodafone is to launch a hybrid TV service called Vodafone Internet TV in Spain before the end of 2010, possibly as early as next month. The box will receive DVB-T channels, both free-to-air and pay-TV, as well as a number of IPTV delivered services including VOD.

The announcement was made by Isaac Hernandez, MD, Vodafone Broadband, at the SIMO Network fair in Madrid. The new service is set to compete with Telefonica’s IPTV service Imagenio and Orange TV as well as with cable. However, in contrast to its competitors, Vodafone does not plan to invest in content itself, but rather rely on DTT services in a hybrid box.

The hybrid box, said to be the WyPlay, will also allow access to internet on the TV, including on-demand and streaming sites, and will give access to locally stored content, such as videos, photos and music. The box is “PVR ready”, allowing recordings to be made to a USB device, and includes DNLA, Wi-Fi and ethernet connectivity. and is also ready for both HD and 3D content.

A series of widgets will provide access to Spain’s catch-up TV services. Additional content will be available from National Geographic Channel, Canal de Historia and Canal Cocina (entertainment).

Until recently, Vodafone was only active as a mobile operator in Spain, but after acquiring the assets of Tele2 in the country, it is now also active as an ISP. The announcement is reminiscent of a project that Vodafone plans for the German market, where a hybrid set-top box will combine satellite or cable with an internet TV service.

At an IBC lunch hosted by NDS, which is providing middleware and security for the German launch, Diego Massidda, director of video & connected, Vodafone Germany said the project could be replicated in other markets.

via Vodafone to launch hybrid TV in Spain | Broadband TV News.

Vodafone has launched the BlackBerry Curve 9300 3G in Spain. The handset supports HSDPA networks around the world and features a full qwerty keyboard, optical trackpad, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi, as well as dedicated media keys.

The new smartphone also features a camera that can record video and a microSD/SDHC slot that supports up to 32 GB memory cards for media storage.

The BlackBerry Curve 3G handset is available at Vodafone stores across Spain free of charge for new and ported customers, in combination with the Plan Conecta Voz e Internet Plus tariff plan.

For 25€ per month, the package includes 1,000 minutes for voice calls between 8:00 and 20:00 hours, as well as email services.

via Vodafone brings BlackBerry Curve 9300 3G to Spain – Telecompaper.

The snappily-titled Asociación para la Prevención y Estudio de Delitos, Abusos y Negligencias en Informática y Comunicaciones Avanzadas (Association for the Prevention and Investigation of Crime, Abuse and Malpractice in Information Technology and Advanced Communications), aka Apedanica, has filed suit in the Police Court of Madrid against the legal representative of Google Spain.

It suggests the company has breached Article 197 of the Penal Code, which provides for between one and fours years' jail for anyone who “intercepts telecommunications, or uses listening, transmission, recording or reproduction devices on any other communication signal”.

When it confessed back in back in May that Street View spymobiles had been “collecting information sent over open Wi-Fi networks”, Google claimed the whole thing was a “mistake”, and later blamed it on a rogue software coder.

This explanation has failed to impress. Apedanica president Miguel Angel Gallardo insisted that “something which was carefully programmed and has been done in 30 countries can´t be an error”.

On 19 May, the Spanish Data Protection Agency (Agencia Española de Protección de Datos, or AEPD) opened an investigation into the matter, and last Tuesday Google Spain´s director general, Javier Rodríguez, promised all culled data would be handed over to the agency.

Apedanica has evidently decided that´s not good enough, and its legal action adds to increasing international pressure on Google over its Orwellian black Opel black ops. ®

via The Register.