26 MAY

No prison for Colombian biologist who uploaded scientist’s thesis to Scribd

A Colombian biologist was facing up to eight years in prison for sharing a scientist’s thesis on the online documents portal Scribd. But the Electronic Frontier Foundation is reporting that Diego Gómez has been cleared of criminal copyright violations in a country that, unlike the US, has no broad fair-use defense to infringement allegations.

“After a long legal battle, Diego was able to breathe a sigh of relief today as he was cleared of the criminal charges that he faced for this harmless act of sharing scholarly research,” the EFF announced. Thousands signed an EFF petition supporting Gómez. In 2011, he uploaded a master’s thesis of another scientist, and a drawn-out legal saga in Colombia ensued. A judge in Bogotá found him innocent of the charges Wednesday.

“I have been cleared. I am innocent,” Gómez said, according to Nature.

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Ars Technica

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