Sharing a Netflix account is against the law in the UK, according to the Intellectual Property Office

Dec. 21 (Portaltic/EP) –

The practice of share password from a streaming service like Netflix It is against the law in the United Kingdom, as exposed by the country’s Intellectual Property Office, starting with the breach of the contract acquired with the platform.

Netflix has been chasing account sharing for some time, the practice with which a user pays for a subscription and gives other people nearby access to it, With whom share the costs. It is generally done with the ‘premium’ plan, which allows the simultaneous use of four devices.

However, this company includes in its terms of use that only the cohabitantsthose who live together in the same household, can use the same accountleaving out the option for friends or relatives with other addresses to share an account.

This practice It’s also illegal in the UK.as explained by the Intellectual Property Office on Tuesday to BBC. The reasons are various and cover both civil and criminal law.

Through criminal proceedings, he cites the breach of contract terms purchased with Netflix by agreeing to account creation, as well as “fraud or minor copyright infringement“, while other people are given access to protected works without paying for it.

By civil means, the Office indicates that it is the service itself that must take action in this regard if it detects that an account is being shared. But for the moment, Netflix does not contemplate legal action.

Yes, it has started to implement different options, such as a new, more affordable subscription plan with ads, the possibility of transfer a profile to a new account or charge an extra to the owner for each additional member who uses it as a sub-account.