Europe Upload Attack

In a one-day transcontinental blitz, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry initiated 459 legal actions Oct. 7 against music uploaders.

The IFPI says it is "the largest single wave of lawsuits to be announced outside the U.S." regarding illegal peer-to-peer site activity. The lawsuits cut across Europe: 100 cases have been launched in Austria, 174 in Denmark, 50 in France, 100 in Germany, seven in Italy and 28 in the United Kingdom.

It is the first time that the music industry in the United Kingdom, France and Austria has instigated such procedures. Cases have already been brought up in Italy, Denmark and Germany.

According to the IFPI, the number of cases launched so far in Europe now exceeds 650 in six countries.

The IFPI says the cases are aimed at uploaders who put hundreds of copyrighted songs on file-sharing networks and offer them to P2P users without authorization from the copyright owners. Kazaa, Imesh, Grokster, Bearshare and WinMX are among the services used by the uploaders targeted by the lawsuits.

The IFPI adds that the defendants, who face either criminal or civil suits, are "likely to face compensation payments averaging several thousand euros."

Legal action was instigated in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry trade association and in France by trade body SNEP with collecting society SCPP. In both countries, awareness campaigns earlier this year warned P2P users of the consequences of illegal downloading.

BPI chairman Peter Jamieson said unauthorized uploaders will be sued under the United Kingdom's Copyright, Designs & Patents Act of 1988.

"You never want to take legal action; it is always a last resort," Jamieson tells Billboard. "It is the case that the public awareness campaign is much more powerful than simply saying 'Don't do it.' But litigation is also about helping the legitimate services to prosper."

The move to use litigation in the BPI's anti-piracy battle in the digital-music domain follows the Recording Industry Assn. of America's litigation strategy.

"The objectives and messages are the same in all these countries; their activities are illegal, there are consequences and there are legal alternatives," IFPI chairman/CEO Jay Berman said at an Oct. 7 joint press conference with the BPI. "After spending more than a year with our awareness campaign, we're now prepared to do more than talk about the law; we're prepared to enforce it. This is a strategy of last resort."

The need to sue uploaders despite the extensive awareness campaign has been inevitable, Berman tells Billboard: "I am not surprised. The British market is not immune to the problem. Seven thousand titles [uploaded] via one IP address; as far as I know, we've not had that in any other country in the world."

The British initiative was welcomed by arts minister Estelle Morris, who said, "The government supports the principle of proportionate legal action against the worst offending uploaders. I hope it will stop in their tracks the habitual offender who uploads to make a quick buck out of other people's talent."

The BPI says this is just a taste of things to come, as more cases are expected to follow.

In France, procedures were launched in June by SCPP, with a combination of civil and criminal cases. SCPP director general Marc Guez says he anticipates the first civil cases to be judged very soon. "Civil procedures are usually quicker," he says, while it can take more than a year before a penal procedure is processed.

He adds that the number of lawsuits will be minimal. "We will proceed with as many cases as necessary, but we don't think we have to overplay it," he explains. "We believe that the French public will understand quickly that it is the end to total impunity and that the message will get through."

SCPP president Pascal Negre adds that he expects the French public to understand that "the Internet free-for-all is a myth from the previous century."

SNEP director general Herve Rony says the real goal is to warn consumers and turn them to legal services. "We, as an industry, are totally committed to make legitimate online music delivery a success," Rony says.



Additional reporting by Remi Bouton in Paris.