Jump to content
🌙 COLDPLAY ANNOUNCE MOON MUSIC OUT OCTOBER 4TH 🎵
  • Guest
    Guest

    Illegal Downloaders Hit By Massive Fines

    cd.jpgA postman has become one of only two people in Britain to be forced by the High Court to pay 'tens of thousands of pounds' in damages for illegally downloading music.

     

    The man, believed to be in his thirties or forties, refused to reach a settlement with record bosses after he was caught in a nationwide crackdown on file-sharing.

     

    Instead, he took the case to court and claimed he was unaware his actions were illegal and had not sought to benefit financially. But in a landmark ruling, judge Justice Lawrence Collins ordered him to pay £1,500 in damages and warned: 'Ignorance is not a defence.'The father-of-two, who has not been named, is said to live in Brighton where he works as a postman. He is believed to have two daughters.

     

    In a second ground-breaking case a man from King's Lynn was ordered by the High Court to make an immediate £5,000 payment and could now face a final bill of £20,000.

     

    The court action, brought by the British Phonographic Industry, marks the first time a British court has ever found against an internet pirate.

     

    Illegal downloads of such big-name acts as U2, Madonna, Coldplay, Oasis and the Black Eyed Peas are said to have cost the British record industry £650m over the past two years - and a massive £1.3bn annually, worldwide. Each person's illegal downloading of music is equivalent to the loss of 20 CDs to the UK industry. Now the BPI is warning that more cases could be brought.

     

    'These two men decided not to settle out of court but to pursue the action further,' said a BPI spokesman. 'Now their costs could run into tens of thousands of pounds.'

     

    Out of 139 cases brought by the BPI against illegal downloaders over the past 15 months, some 90 have agreed to settle out of court, paying an average of £2,500 in costs. The spokesman added: 'The

     

    British record industry has consistently said that file-sharing is illegal but this is the first time that premise has been tested properly in court. It sends out a very strong message to any would-be file-sharers.'

     

    Music industry sources said it was likely that the Brighton man had not downloaded the music himself but had opted to take the blame on behalf of his children. A record business expert said: 'Parents have got to get to grips with this. They need to know that what their kids are doing could land them in court or with a really hefty fine.'

     

    A typical scenario would be when parents store on their computer music they have legally downloaded on to their iPods - and those tracks are then illegally distributed to so-called peer-topeer networks by their children.

     

    'The classic trap is it doesn't matter how you acquire the tracks in the first place, if you are distributing them over the Net then that's illegal,' added the source.

     

    BPI chairman Peter Jamieson said: 'We have long said that unauthorised file-sharing is damaging the industry and stealing the future of artists and the people who invest in them. Here is clear confirmation of what we also said, that unauthorised filesharing is against the law.'

     

    BPI general counsel Roz Groome said: 'These rulings are a massive step forward in the music industry's bid to fight illegal filesharing.'

     

    Source: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk




    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    There are no comments to display.



    Guest
    This is now closed for further comments

×
×
  • Create New...