Games Company Triumphs over File Sharers

Topware Interactive, a game producing company (Dream Pinball 3D is one of their products), was favored with default judgments in the Central London County Court. The legal action was taken against four illegal file-sharers on Friday and resulted in interim damages of £750 which each of the infringers has to pay the corporate by the end of next week. For the unfortunate downloaders the final fee could reach £2,000 per individual and additional costs of about £1,500.

You may probably wonder how come the large amount since a licensed copy of the game costs no more than £16. Allegedly, for the reason that the game is made available and many could download it from a single PC increasing the damages of the company.

According to Davenport Lyons Topware's Mayfair solicitors, a huge wave of new claims will be rushing in this week to serve the interests of a number of major clients. The ones who will be targeted are those who use p2p networks to swap music, movies and games.

When surfing the Internet every user has a unique identification number called an IP address. Though computer specialists are able to trace file-sharers who keep unauthorized content on their machines and log their IP addresses, only the ISPs can identify a certain customer based on a certain IP address at a certain time.

Some ISPs, like Virgin Media, for instance, who has recently closed a deal with the music industry, have started to send warnings to their customers if suspected of illegal file sharing. However, Davenport Lyons could only send solicitors' letters to so many users whose accounts had been involved in illegal game-downloads if the High Court had ruled in favor of their identification. In those cases where no agreeable response was given lawsuits are to follow.

Things look even gloomier now for TV and film producers with the increase of television-on-demand. Yet, big producers didn’t rush into bringing the matter to court lest it would bounce back right in their faces. They directed their hopes and efforts to convincing ISPs that these actions and the whole cracking down thing is something quite beneficial for them. Moreover, they tried to persuade ISPs that illegal file-sharers will cause a whole lot more damages than just major bandwith consumption.