Danish anti-piracy group announces plan to sue students who share even one digital copy of a textbook
In Denmark, a country known for its high welfare state, university tuition is free, but textbook prices continue to rise, and it has been reported that '
Nye midler tags i brug mod ulovlig deling af studiebøger
https://rettighedsalliancen.dk/pressemeddelelse-rettighedsalliancen-tager-nye-midler-i-brug-mod-ulovlig-deling-af-studieboger/
Danish Students Face Legal Action and Fines Over Textbook Piracy * TorrentFreak
https://torrentfreak.com/danish-students-face-legal-action-and-fines-over-textbook-piracy/
According to a survey published by the Rights Alliance in 2023, among students attending Danish universities who responded that they use digital textbooks, approximately half admitted to using at least one pirated book. This figure has remained relatively stable since 2020, despite aggressive attempts to crack down on textbook piracy, revealing that students continue to obtain pirated textbooks.
A Danish survey also found that students are increasingly purchasing pirated textbooks due to their high prices, with about half using pirated versions.
A 2025 survey by Danish research firm Epinion found that at least 57% of students using digital textbooks obtained them illegally. The graph below shows data on students using digital textbooks by year. Dark blue indicates legitimate digital textbooks, red indicates illegal digital textbooks, and white indicates unknown. While the percentage of illegal digital textbooks has increased since the previous year, the graph also shows that the percentage of students using digital textbooks has increased.
Furthermore, the 2025 survey also raises concerns about uploading textbooks, in whole or in part, to chat AI. Uploading textbooks to chat AI could potentially allow an AI model to learn the material and then output the textbook's content as the chat AI's responses. While this would make textbooks available to unlimited users, Epinion's survey found that approximately 72% of students 'did not know that uploading textbooks to chatbots was illegal.'
Despite years of educational activities aimed at students, the illegal sharing of digital textbooks has not decreased, leading the Rights Alliance to announce its intention to begin full-scale legal action against students.
According to a January 29, 2026, announcement, Rights Alliance will begin filing lawsuits under the Copyright Act's civil litigation provisions beginning in February 2026 against students who illegally share digital textbooks. The organization stated that its 'purpose is prevention, not punishment,' and that 'we will select cases to clearly demonstrate that individual digital textbook sharing is illegal.' The organization also mentioned the possibility that students could be ordered to pay damages if copyright infringement is found.
According to the Rights Alliance, students who share more books are at greater risk of being found out and facing heavier fines, but sharing fewer books doesn't mean they're immune to punishment. Even sharing just one book illegally can lead to legal action.
Maria Fredenslund, Executive Director of Rights Alliance, said: 'We have been reaching out to students through dialogue and information for many years, but seven years of measurements show that this has not had an effect. With over half still sharing textbooks illegally, we need to send a clearer message. As in every other area of society, there should be proportionate penalties for breaking the law. However, we do not want to punish individuals, we want to create a cultural change so that students understand that there are consequences for illegal sharing. When authorities and society back our laws and regulations, students will have a stronger incentive to respect and abide by them.'
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in Note, Posted by log1e_dh