RECORDING
INDUSTRY LAUNCHES FRESH WAVE OF ACTIONS AGAINST ILLEGAL FILE-SHARING
- Over
8,000 cases launched in 17 countries
- Thousands
have paid settlement fees averaging 2,400 euros
- Actions
for the first time in Brazil, Mexico and Poland
- Legal
action and virus fears driving people away from illegal file-sharing
- Parental
education campaign now reaches 15 countries in 10 languages
London, 17th October
2006 – Legal actions against thousands
of music file-sharers across the world were announced today as the
recording industry stepped up its campaign to deter copyright theft and
promote legitimate use of music on the internet.
Over
8,000 new cases in 17 countries are being announced today, including
the first ever cases against illegal file-sharing in the two biggest
markets of South America and in Eastern Europe. A total of
more than 13,000 legal actions have now been taken outside the United
States.
Legal
actions are being extended to Brazil, where more than one billion music
tracks were illegally downloaded last year and a country where record
company revenues have nearly halved since 2000.
Mexico
and Poland are also seeing actions for the first time – while a further
14 countries are launching fresh actions against illegal
file-sharing.
Over
2,300 of people have already paid the price for illegally file-sharing
copyrighted material, with average legal settlements of €2,420.
Legal
actions are being brought against a wide variety of people, ranging
from a laboratory assistant in Finland to a German parson.
Many of
those on the receiving end of legal action are parents whose children
have been illegally file-sharing. They are finding that in many
countries they are liable for any activities third parties undertake
using their internet connection. In Argentina, one mother made
her son sell off his car to pay her back the settlement fee.
The
actions, a combination of criminal and civil suits, are aimed at
‘uploaders’ – people who have put hundreds or thousands of copyrighted
songs onto internet file-sharing networks and offered them to millions
of people worldwide without permission from the copyright owners.
The industry is targeting uploaders using all the major unauthorised
P2P services, including BitTorrent, eDonkey, DirectConnect, Gnutella,
Limewire, SoulSeek and WinMX.
The
actions are being taken in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland,
Portugal, Singapore and Switzerland.
John
Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of IFPI, said:
“Consumers today can get music legally in ways that were unimaginable
just a few years ago, with over three million tracks available on
nearly 400 sites worldwide as well as an array of mobile platforms.
Yet some people continue to consume their music illegally,
refusing to respect the creative work of artists, songwriters and
record producers.
“As a
result we reluctantly continue with our legal actions and today sees
the latest escalation of that campaign to show that file-sharing
copyrighted music does carry real legal risks - apart from the risks to
privacy and the risks from spyware and viruses. Around the world
many people have already paid a heavy price for their illegal
file-sharing. They all thought they were unlikely to be caught,
but teachers, postal workers, IT managers, scientists and people in a
host of other occupations, as well as parents, have ended up having to
dig deeply into their pockets. The money they have had to pay as
a result of the court cases could have been spent on other things.
“In
each of the 17 countries involved in today's actions there are legal
music services available to consumers. There is no excuse.
People should understand that they can be caught whatever network
they are using. The next time a series of law suits are announced
you could be on the receiving end if you are an illegal file-sharer.”
Concerns growing over
viruses and malware on P2P
New
third party research shows that internet users’ fear of viruses,
spyware and malware, as well as worries about legal action, are also
proving a major deterrent to illegal p2p file-sharing. The
findings show:
- In the
UK, six out of 10 people who plan to cut back or stop file-sharing say
that fear of computer viruses is a major reason for their planned
change in behaviour.
- In
Japan, 46 per cent of internet users who have stopped using P2P
networks cited viruses as a major reason for swapping to use legal
sites.
- Fear of
viruses was the main reason why 20 per cent of those who switched from
illegal to legal sites in the US stopped their illegal activities
- In
Poland, 25 per cent of internet users who shun P2P say that viruses are
the main reason for their decision to stick with legal sites.
Improving legal landscape
The new
wave of lawsuits comes at a time of significant change in the legal
landscape for p2p networks. A series of court judgments across
the world established the liability of p2p operators for infringement
that they facilitate or promote and from which they benefit – rejecting
the notion that illegal file-sharing is innocent, legal or
victimless. In the wake of these judgments, significant
settlements with services such as Kazaa, BearShare, eDonkey and Kuro
have followed.
Campaign spreads
internationally
IFPI is
today announcing that it is extending the campaign to Brazil, Mexico
and Poland for the first time, bringing more than 100 actions across
the three countries.
Record
company revenues in Brazil, the largest market in Latin America, have
fallen from US$724.7m in 2000 to US$394.2m last year. Much of
this is accounted for by the phenomenal rise in illegal file-sharing
across the country. The cases are being brought by ABPD, IFPI's
Brazilian affiliate.
AMPROFON,
IFPI’s national affiliate in Mexico, will target individual uploaders
and cyber café owners who are notorious for encouraging and
supporting illegal P2P file-sharing.
In
Poland, ZPAV, the record industry body, is collaborating closely with
the police who are starting criminal investigations - including raids
to gather further evidence - against identified uploaders.
Education stepped up
IFPI
has worked with the music sector alliance www.pro-music.org to assist
the education work around online music by children’s charity Childnet
International. Childnet’s educational leaflet “Young People, Music and
the Internet” has been rolled out in 15 countries and 11 languages,
with the latest versions in Mexico, Brazil and Poland.
Recent
research from Lingnan University in Hong Kong has shown that the
education campaign there has had a major impact on children and their
parents. More than a third of parents (36%) have guided their
children to refrain from illegal downloading in the last year and 67
per cent of people said that legal action is an effective way of
reducing illegal p2p file-sharing.
Digital
File Check, a freely-available software programme developed by IFPI
that is available on disc or from the IFPI website, has now been
launched in 15 countries. It can help remove or block any of the
unwanted file-sharing programmes commonly used to distribute
copyrighted files illegally. It can therefore help to stop people
becoming illegal file-sharers.
Childnet
has recently launched a new education programme aimed at 100,000
families in the UK, talking about the legal and security risks of using
p2p networks. The charities campaign includes distributing copies
of Digital File Check.
- ends -
For further information or
to arrange an interview please contact Adrian Strain or Alex Jacob of
the IFPI Communications Team on +44 (0)20 7878 7935 or at alex.jacob@ifpi.org.
Notes to Editors
·
IFPI is also today publishing
a number of other accompanying materials on www.ifpi.org:
o
Fact sheet on the legitimate
digital music market
o
Round-up of educational
programmes
o
Chronology of judgements and
settlements involving P2P operators
o
Fact sheet on risks of using
P2P on the family computer
IFPI
is the organisation that promotes the interests of the international
recording industry worldwide. Its membership comprises over 1400 major and independent companies in
more than 70 countries. It also has affiliated industry national groups
in 48 countries. IFPI’s mission is to fight music piracy; promote fair
market access and good copyright laws; help develop the legal
conditions and the technologies for the recording industry to prosper
in the digital era; and to promote the value of music.
