Private torrenting is certainly not commercial distribution.

Tell that to our courts ;)

Commercial distribution isn't the only way you can violate copyrights

Just violating copyright wouldn't really matter. Damages would be tiny, and so would be what the lawyers can blackmail you for. It's being on the hook for the damages of distribution that gets the high fees.

Please tell me what's wrong about my comment instead of blindly downvoting, thank you.

It's simply not true, from my personal experience. Who cares it's tiny when it's still more than I want or can pay.

You have personal experience with being sued for downloading without distribution in Germany?

I wasn't sued at the end of it, but nearly. Had to pay few hundred euro. Still sucked.

Huh, that is super interesting, are you 100% certain it wasn’t torrents and thus including distribution? Hundreds of euros is crazy, that’s what people pay for distribution.

Violating copyright means distribution - giving out copies without the right to do so.

Sure, but private distribution is something completely different than commercial distribution. And private distribution under friends up to 15 is even legal.

Yes, sharing privately using for example a flash drive, sending file via messaging app, or a private download link that's not shared publicly is not distribution. But I was replying to your comment that said "violation of copyright", which implies distribution - torrents in my case. Fortunately I didn't distribute much, I had the torrent client set to a low speed, so I was able to settle it out of court.

So it was distribution. As I originally said.

I replied to a comment about violation of copyright, which implies distribution.

There have been courts that decided downloading is copying, is infringement. But even if I used incorrect wording, I specifically mentioned distribution being the issue in my original comment.

No, there is a specific ruling says that says downloading for personal use is not infringement or violation of copyright. The person who uploaded it is the one infringing by giving out copies, not the person downloading. That's why downloading gets a pass. Any violation of copyright in Europe necessarily includes uploading.

You should move to Germany and argue this exact point in front of a bored 54-year old regional judge (who does not own a smartphone) on a Wednesday afternoon.