MADRID -- Pablo Soto's story may be every computer whiz kid's dream -- or nightmare. After leaving school at 16 to support his family, he managed to eke out a living doing what he loves most: designing computer programs.
Then in 2001, the Madrid native launched Blubster, one of the world's most popular peer-to-peer Internet file-sharing programs of recent years -- with no training and operating out of his grandmother's apartment.
Now Soto may become a victim of his own success as he finds himself the lone defendant in the latest major legal battle by the mighty music industry against Internet piracy; a Madrid court is expected to rule this month. The case, although similar to others in Europe and the U.S., is being closely watched on both sides of the Atlantic because Spain is ranked as one of the world's worst Internet piracy offenders.
"We are attacking companies who are profiting by developing applications that are used for piracy," said Antonio Guisasola, president of Promusicae, the Spanish record label association that includes Sony, Universal, Warner and EMI. It is suing Soto for more than $18 million on grounds of unfair competition.
Promusicae brands Soto an Internet parasite who robs artists and record companies by facilitating illegal downloads of music and other copyrighted protected material with his P2P programs.
Guisasola hopes the case will mirror recent court rulings against operations such as Napster in the United States and The Pirate Bay in Sweden. He and others also hope it will also force Spain to finally draw up new legislation and enforce it. They cite a new law in France that aims to cut off Internet connections of those who repeatedly download music and films illegally.
"If they win, I close shop," said Soto. "If I win, I'll be able to sleep again. [Eighteen million dollars] would be a financial life sentence."
Soto, 29, said Blubster is a fully legal Internet tool -- admittedly one designed precisely to skirt the legal loopholes that nabbed Napster in 2001 -- and that he is not responsible for what people do with that tool.
"My programs are not just for illegal music downloads. P2P file-sharing has many more uses," he said.
Examples of so-called legitimate uses include downloading historic speeches, uncopyrighted music and public domain intellectual property such as music and books whose copyright has expired, he said.
Soto argued that if he is guilty, so too are companies such as Google or Spanish telecom giant Telefonica that permit the process.
Downloading copyrighted material is illegal in Spain but not a criminal offense, and courts consistently throw out cases on grounds that it is an infringement only if used for commercial profit.
This stance not only infuriates music companies but irritates the U.S. government and that country's powerful entertainment lobby.
According to the U.S. copyright industry group International Intellectual Property Alliance, some 2 billion music tracks were illegally downloaded in Spain in 2008, compared to 2.2 million purchased legally.
Soto's lawyer, Javier de la Cueva, argues that the U.S. reports are based solely on industry figures and not backed up by independent assessments.
He recognizes, however, that while the likes of Blubster may be undermining the music industry the time has come for the entire industry to change.
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