RealNetworks has sued the owner of a website in The Netherlands for displaying a hyperlink to a competing freeware package. As the company seeks compensation for its claimed losses, the 26-year-old man is borrowing money from family to survive.

The case started in 2010 when RealNetworks demanded that the computers belonging to Hilbrand Edskes and his family be confiscated. A Dutch judge granted this in an ex-parte ruling, based on an alleged violation of copyright law and trademark law. The company claims that Edskes was hosting the infringing software. The move to secretly obtain the order was meant to ensure that evidence wasn’t deleted.

See also RealNetworks Rinse review

Edskes has a website, Codecpack.nl, that links to a wide variety of freeware programs. One of these is Real Alternative, a competitor of the mediaplayer RealPlayer from RealNetworks. RealNetworks alleges that the software violates their trademarks and copyright, and it wants to be compensated for all downloads via Codecpack.nl.

However, Edskes wasn’t hosting the software, but just redirected to other sites for the actual download. The complaint turned out to be based on a hyperlink to the software. To date there have been two court sessions, and in December Edskes will have to testify under oath.

There is a heavy pricetag attached to the case. So far Edskes has incurred more than €66,000 in legal fees. He says the costs cut his savings, hindering him from buying his own house. If he loses the case Dutch law requires him to cover all legal fees of RealNetworks. According to documents Webwereld.nl has studied these costs are nearly €75,000.

See also: The 11 most annoying web apps

RealNetworks claims Edskes failed to remove the link to the software, and the reference in the DNS directories existed after February 12, 2010. However, the hosting provider checked backups and confirmed the removal of the link. The company that confiscated the computers has confirmed the immediate removal of the link. Unclear is the exact date the DNS reference disappeared, since backup cycles take longer. RealNetworks alleges the infringement was ongoing for 43 days and thus Edskes ought to pay €210,000 in fines. Edskes claims DNS caching is to blame for the delay.

It is remarkable that RealNetworks is going after Edskes. The software is available at many locations. The documents seen by Webwereld also show that the company is unaware of who the real creator of Real Alternative is. When asked a series of questions on the matter the company, through their Dutch legal firm, refused to comment. Questions will be answered only when the court has ruled, "no matter what the outcome is."

See also: RealNetworks' purchase of TidySongs causes confusion