The German Pirate Party has won seats in a third federal district, taking 8.2% of the vote in Schleswig-Holstein; they’re on track to win seats in a fourth state next week in Northrhine-Westphalia. TechDirt’s Mike Masnick writes:
It seems clear that The Pirate Party is certainly surpassing the German Green Party as the preeminent 3rd party — and it seems to be having an impact. As we noted, the Greens have tried to co-opt much of the Pirate Party’s agenda as their own, and Germany’s major political parties have started to show a much more reasoned approach to copyright as well…
Of course, it’s worth noting a point that’s been left out in many of the discussions about the success of the German Pirate Party: Germany has some of the worst copyright laws around, especially on issues like secondary liability. Perhaps those two things are linked… and perhaps those who keep pushing for more draconian enforcement of copyrights might want to take that into account. There’s little to no evidence that such laws do anything to slow down infringement, but it sure seems to make people respect copyright law even less.
Pirate Party Wins Again In Germany