Case Note on 'Chinese Take-Away'

摘要

The judgment's sub-analysis is comforting for YouTube and its users and disquieting for copyright holders in Argentina. Legally speaking "Chinese Take-Away" (Un Cuento Chino, a 2011 Argentine film directed by Sebastian Borenztein) represents a very important case because it clearly states for the first time that uploading a copyrighted film without authorization is not a crime according to Argentinean criminal law. All judges of the National Criminal and Correctional Court of Appeals, 5th Chamber, agreed that the individual who uploads a film to an online platform does not commit a criminal offence. In addition the judges found that the administrators of video platforms cannot be held criminally liable, either as joint-principals or as accomplices or accessories to the crime for making available the technical means to upload and display videos online. What a civil court would decide in a civil proceeding (liability) is another story.