RSSRecord Industry Sues 963 in EU, Asia
By Nate Mook | Published April 12, 2005, 12:42 PM
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents the global recording industry, has filed suit against 963 individuals across Europe and Asia for illegally sharing copyrighted music on peer-to-peer networks.
The lawsuits will be the first time such legal action has been taken to combat P2P piracy in Japan, the Netherlands, Iceland, Finland and Ireland. The IFPI has previously launched hundreds of similar attacks on file swappers in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the UK.
"Today, people across Europe can be in no doubt that uploading copyrighted music on to file-sharing networks is against the law, affects jobs, investment in music and livelihoods, and carries the risk of financial penalties," said John Kennedy, Chairman of the IFPI.
"We have spent two years raising public awareness of this, and ignorance really is no longer an excuse."
The group said its lawsuits have already brought moderate success. The number of music illicitly downloaded in Germany dropped 35 percent in 2004, and Kazaa has seen its user base drop from 4.5 million to 2.3 million as file swappers move to more underground locales.
The IFPI says thus far, 248 individuals have paid on average more than 3,000 euros to settle its criminal and civil suits.
"The group said its lawsuits have already brought moderate success. The number of music illicitly downloaded in Germany dropped 35 percent in 2004, and Kazaa has seen its user base drop from 4.5 million to 2.3 million as file swappers move to more underground locales."
Keyphrase here, "as file swappers move to more underground locales."
Apparently they don't know what that means, because it refutes the point they are trying to make.
Success, by their definition, must mean, 'We just made it harder for ourselves to catch those folks we didn't get this time...because we didn't stop them, we just made them try harder to keep out of our radar."
Good going, guys. I salute you and wish you much more....'success'.
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|their is an opinion ,cut you ripe of prices
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|...not much to argue with in this case--the law was broken.
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|I think the guy who said that is ignorant.
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|Exactly and don't tape any TV shows for your friends and family using your VCR either. Someone should sue Xerox.
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|Actually no. It may be a little thing or a big thing, agree or disagree, doesn't matter--uploading copyrighted music to file sharing networks *IS* against the law. How does that statement make me 'ignorant'?
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|If the law is wrong there is a lot to debate here. Stating otherwise makes you ignorant.
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