UK music bosses win battle against illegal file-sharers
7 March 2005
The UK music industry has agreed a £50,000 out of court settlement with 23 UK internet users over illegal file-sharing.
The users, 17 men and six women aged between 22 and 58, ranging from a student to a local councillor, admitted putting up to 9,000 songs on the internet for other people to download.
All 23 have signed High Court undertakings admitting they illegally shared files and promising not to do it again.
The average compensation payment was £2,200 each. Fifteen of those sued used the Kazaa peer-to-peer network, four used Imesh, two used Grokster, one used WinMix and one used BearShare.
The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which represents major record companies, has launched a second wave of cases, pursuing 31 more file-sharers and has vowed to enforce the law on illegal downloads wherever possible.
BPI general counsel Geoff Taylor said: "We are determined to find people who illegally distribute music, whichever peer-to-peer network they use, and to make them compensate the artists and labels they are stealing from."
The BPI said some of the people who chose to settle were parents, who were likely to have settled on behalf of their children. The compensation payments will go back to music copyright holders.
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