Ifpi Ups Legal Action Against Euro File Sharers

The international record business is stepping up its activities against illegal file sharers in Europe.

In March, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry unveiled details of a campaign against file sharers, while its national affiliates initiated more than 200 criminal and civil actions in Denmark, Germany and Italy.

The trade group has also launched campaigns to warn file sharers in Sweden, the United Kingdom and France about the possibility of litigation.

"On the strength of the developments in Denmark, Germany and Italy," IFPI chairman/CEO Jay Berman says, "we can confirm that there will be more legal actions in other countries in the near future."

The IFPI announced June 8 that several "serial" illegal file sharers had agreed to settle out of court and pay compensation for copyright infringement.

"The message is definitely getting out there: Litigation works," IFPI general counsel/executive director Allen Dixon says.

"People are not anonymous on the Internet," he adds. "They risk being caught and paying damages and fines."

Denmark has seen the biggest response to legal threats of any European country. More than 17 people have paid or agreed to pay penalties of about 3,000 euros ($3,696) each to Denmark's IFPI affiliate. Another 23 are negotiating payments.

Prosecutors brought a new round of cases against 24 Danish suspects June 8.

PRICY PENALTIES

"If you look at the prices of tracks on most [legal] download services, 3,000 euros each is a lot of money for settlements," says Charles Law, a partner specializing in music at Denton Wilde Sapte, a law firm here. "But [they] have to pay, because if IFPI goes to court and they don't obey the court order, there are pretty stiff penalties."

In southeast Germany, a 23-year-old who allegedly had 6,000 mp3 files on his PC, plus 70 CDs made from illegal downloads, is paying a settlement of 8,000 euros ($9,856).

A 57-year-old Stuttgart, Germany, teacher will pay a similar penalty.

"The fact that they are willing to pay means they must have been pretty active in their [illegal] download activities," Law says.

Dixon adds that out-of-court settlements "save everyone time and expense."

The IFPI calculates penalties based on the number of music files the individual uploaded and the number of times the files were copied online. It uses the payments to cover litigation expenses and disburses the remainder to copyright organizations and rights-holders.

FEWER FILES

The IFPI says it monitors 800 million illegally shared music files, a 27% drop from the 1.1 billion files it monitored one year ago. The number of illegal files on peer-to-peer services fell 30%, to 700 million, during the same period.

"In Italy," Dixon says, "we're seeing a decline in particular kinds of P2P, especially those using WinMX and OpenNap [programs]. At the beginning of the year, there were about 60 WinMX and OpenNap servers trading millions of files. Now, [Italian regulators] have closed down 58 of the 60."

In France, trade body SNEP has received government support for its campaign against illegal file sharing. SNEP representatives met recently with Minister of Industry Patrick Devedjian, who confirmed the launch of a national anti-piracy strategy in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture.

The French government's action plan aims to combat illegal file sharing by supporting information and education initiatives, promoting legal download services and encouraging legal action against pirates.

"The French government has been very keen to be supportive," Dixon says.

The British Phonographic Industry here launched an instant-messaging campaign March 26 to alert those trading unauthorized files that they face legal action. To date, the labels body has sent 175,000 warnings to U.K. uploaders.

BPI chairman Peter Jamieson welcomes the results of an IFPI survey indicating that seven out of 10 people in France, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany know that sharing copyrighted music without permission is illegal.

"The public recognizes that there's no such thing as a free lunch," Jamieson says. "Creators and the people who invest in them deserve to be paid for their work. People who steal music are damaging the music of the future."