RSSUK Court Orders File Swappers to Pay
By Ed Oswald | Published January 27, 2006, 2:55 PM
The British record industry said it had scored a major victory against two file swappers in the country who were caught downloading from file sharing services. Each will be forced to pay several thousand pounds in restitution to the British Phonographic Institute immediately.
The case is the first of its kind in British court, and sets precedence for other court cases in the country involving file sharing to be decided in a similar manner. Until this case, the BPI had reached out-of-court settlements with people it caught downloading from P2P networks.
A postman from Brighton in the southern part of the country and a man from King's Lynn in East England were charged with violating the country's Copyrights and Patents Act. The BPI declined to release the identities of the two individuals, who were convicted earlier this month and in November of last year.
The postman has been ordered to pay 1,500 pounds or $2,660 USD, with a future judgment to decide a penalty for damages and costs. The King's Lynn man would be liable for an immediate payment of 5,000 pounds or $8,865 USD, and could face legal costs of 13,500 pounds or $23,940 USD as well as additional penalties for damages.
"We have long said that unauthorized file sharing is damaging the music industry and stealing the future of artists and the people who invest in them," BPI chairman Peter Jamieson said in a statement. "Here is clear confirmation of what we also said – that unauthorized file sharing is illegal.”
The actions are similar to those of the Recording Industry Association of America, which has sued thousands of file sharers for their activities. According to the music industry, more than 900 million illegal music files exist on the Internet.
A majority of the 139 cases the BPI has brought have been settled, with those accused paying up to 6,500 pounds ($11,530 USD) to avoid a court case.
lol wat p2p using retards
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|Thank you for - again and again and again - hammering into our consciousness "P2P use is BAD! Those who do it are CRIMINALS! You will be PUNISHED for doing so!"
Thanks, too, for reminding us that it's not the regular price you will be punished to pay - no, thousands of per cent more.
Thanks, 3rd time, for revealing that the greedy attitude is a WORLDWIDE one.
"Fire is good against mice", said the farmer, and burned down his farmhouse.
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|Just as Artic Monkeys have the fastedt selling album of all time. One i might add that has been on P2P for weeks, so much for it harming sales.
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|Least we forget, this is all metallica's fault. Long Live Free Music.
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|Yeah because if it weren't for Metallica the RIAA would have never found out about P2P.
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|Now, in Texas a teen is being sued by the thugs on the RIAA for P@P file sharing. Canada's biggest record company, Nettwerk Records, is siding WITH the teen and paying his fines and legal costs AGAINST the RIAA extortionists.
Not only has the record company done this, it has publicly stated that it is AGAINST copy protection and thinks that the lawsuits and measures being taken by the RIAA (including copy protection and DRM) are harming the businsess. As I live and breathe: an ethical and intelligent music company.
I had thought they didn't exist.
This is a major kick in the crotch to the greed driven entertainment establishment - one of their own has sided with the filthy scum, er, consumer.
Here's the link:
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13003
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|'cept for the DRM on their latest BNL CD. But then, that could be because they distributed it through RIAA in the US.
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|"Each will be forced to pay several thousand pounds in restitution to the British Phonographic Institute immediately."
-whoops, my bad, just finished reading about the GTA mod suit and figured this said the "British Pornographic Institute"- ah well, they both use sleazy tactics anyhoo.
BTW, when you listen to the radio, you are listening to the advertisements that are paying for the music you are listening to. I just go with the indie amateur recordings I get of "friend of friend" bands - when Im actually in the mood to listen to "lousy music" (be it the recording quality or what the radio spews out) I have my choice...
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|{sarcasm}
I refuse to use P2P services due to all the crap that is floating around out there. IF I was going to pirate music, I would just ask a friend(s) if I could direct download all the music they had on their music players to my PC. It would be much faster, much safer and it would not require an internet connection that could be traced.
If you have half a concern about DRM (and you should), there are some nifty open source utilities to disinfect your newly aquired music of the viral DRM code and convert them to MP3 formats.
Hypothetically speaking of course....
Just my two cents... ;)
{/sarcasm}
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|"We have long said that unauthorized file sharing is damaging the music industry...."
must have cut out the part where they continue,
"...but have yet to produce a single shred of evidence with which to justify these claims."
Good thing they don't need things like proof beyond reasonable doubt in civil cases like this, or they'd be laughed out of court.
Id *really* love to see one of the losers file a criminal suit against them for use of the civil legal system for extortion. Make them spin trying to provide proof of guilt for *any* of these people.
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|"We have long said that unauthorized file sharing is damaging the music industry...."
They forgot to add...
Also this is a good thing as many artists out there are 1st been heard of via a CD a friend did for a friend.
I live in the UK and like rock music, The only real way to listen to real rock music here is if you have sky or another cable digi TV. The radio stations are mostly POP or hiphop and TV music is dead even Top of the Pop's in now demoted to sundays on BBC2.
I have listened to maybe 1000 differnt and good rock acts via MP3's (most from friends in the US) to illegal to download the music most of the time if I liked the album I went to the shop and picked up a copy. One sale that without 'illegael' MP3's they wouldn't have had.
So P2P is BAD yes for the people that make pop music and have people make money off them (ie, people selling bootlegs at car-boot sales) but also sometimes a bit of sharing between friends is GOOD for the music business as a whole a lot of people hear music they never would have before.
It's just like sharing a tape with a mate to see wot he/she thinks, but the problem in the digital age is that everything is trackable.
at least with tapes you knew that there wa not a mircochip in them to send info back to the RIAA or BPI or some other company.
Just my 2c or 1.60(ish) pennice anyways.
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|Tape-swapping.
It's how Metallica got it's start. So much for the old ways...
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|record companys pretty much make millions from simply suing people!! LOL wow...wtf? i refuse to buy or download music..i just listen to radio now
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|Downloading music over the internet, terrible, it should be stopped.
In my day we would never do anything like that.
GG now as am cassete taping the top 40 charts of the radio :-)
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