Breakdown of legal cases against illegal file-sharing

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Austria: IFPI Austria has filed an additional 50 criminal and civil cases against people found to have been offering large numbers of music files on peer-to-peer file sharing services without authorisation, bringing the total to 150 cases launched since October 2004. Austrian proceedings permit a range of remedies and penalties, including criminal raids and fines, as well as civil compensation and injunctions. To date, 53 of the individuals targeted in these court actions have settled their claims with IFPI Austria, at an average of several thousand Euros each-one as high as € 5,500.
Denmark: IFPI Denmark has sent civil demand letters to approximately 200 more alleged illegal music file-sharers, bringing the total number of such legal claims launched in Denmark to nearly 500. So far, 98 individuals in Denmark (representing one-third of those targeted in previous waves) have already either paid or agreed to pay compensation averaging a few thousand Euros each-one as high as €13,000.
Finland. The Finnish anti-piracy organisation CIAPC and IFPI Finland have filed their first criminal complaints against 28 alleged uploaders of music on peer-to-peer services, and will be adding civil claims for compensation to the criminal claims.
France: Criminal complaints and civil court cases will be taken against an additional 60 major uploaders of music in France, following 64 such cases brought in 2004. French anti-piracy organisation SCPP is pursuing criminal proceedings that allow fines and other sanctions. It has also brought civil cases requesting termination of the internet account of infringers; in all 32 such civil cases brought in 2004, the individuals' internet accounts have been terminated by court order. The first full French court judgement in a peer-to-peer case (involving a DirectConnect user) confirmed on 2 February that file-sharing is illegal.
Germany: IFPI Germany filed 401 additional criminal complaints against individuals alleged to be engaged in illegal file-sharing of music. This brings to 569 the number of such cases launched. To date, 39 of the original 168 defendants, many of whom were raided by the police, have made civil settlement payments averaging €4,000-one as high as €15,000.
Iceland: IFPI's Iceland group and the local film industry have filed criminal complaints against 23 alleged large-scale uploaders on the DirectConnect file-sharing service. 12 of the individuals concerned have already been raided by the police. Four of the major DC++ servers used by these individuals-one containing more than 11 terabytes of files-have been shut down. IFPI Iceland expects to follow up the criminal cases with civil compensation claims.
Ireland. The Irish recording industry association IRMA has prepared civil cases against 17 peer-to-peer users believed to be making available hundreds or thousands of commercial music tracks on file-sharing services without permission. These are the first such cases in Ireland. The Irish group will launch these cases with requests to the court for disclosure of user details.
Italy: Police have raided 26 more individuals on suspicion of copyright infringement in connection with large-scale file sharing of music, with actions continuing on a regular basis. This follows similar criminal cases brought against 37 individuals last year, which are still pending before the courts; approximately 20% of these have reached the administrative sanction phase to date. Individuals found guilty are subject to fines expected in the range of €5,000 to €25,000 with additional civil compensation possible. Some additional raids on illegal file-sharers are scheduled in the next few days.
Japan. RIAJ, the Japanese recording industry association, has begun its first civil proceedings against 44 users of peer-to-peer file-sharing networks allegedly engaged in unauthorised 'making available' of commercial music files. Eight users' details have already been obtained, and record producers have already entered into settlement talks with five users to seek compensation.
Netherlands. The first legal cases brought against peer-to-peer users in the Netherlands are, for the first time, brought jointly by composers, songwriters, music publishers and record companies. Anti-piracy organisation BREIN has launched joint actions against 50 Dutch internet users allegedly engaged in illegal file-sharing of music. Cease-and-desist letters with damage claims already have been sent to five internet service providers for delivery to these customers. Seven users have already contacted BREIN, signed cease-and-desist agreements and settled for an average of €2,100. BREIN today will begin the court proceedings by seeking court orders for disclosure of the other 32 users' details. A further 11 claims are pending.
United Kingdom: The UK record industry has already resolved all of the cases launched in its first wave in October 2004, with defendants paying more than £50,000 (€75,000) in total compensation-on average more than £2,000 (€3,000) each. The BPI is today writing to 31 more individuals whose identities were disclosed to the BPI in March, and is also announcing today that it is applying for the disclosure of the identities of another 33 file-sharers. The BPI alleges that these individuals were engaged in copying and making available large numbers of music tracks on the internet in breach of copyright. Users face civil action in the UK for an injunction and damages.
United States: Since September 2003, the US recording industry has brought civil copyright infringement lawsuits against over 9,900 alleged illegal file sharers. There have been 2,150 settlements to date, averaging several thousand US dollars each.

For further information please contact Adrian Strain, Julie Harari or Fiona Harley at
IFPI Communications on tel: +44 (0)20 7878 7900