IFPI legal action: BPI to monitor effects : 30:3:2004

Following news today that record companies in Germany, Denmark, Canada and Italy are to take illegal filesharers to court, the British record industry has reiterated its warning to those in the UK who illegally upload music to peer-to-peer networks that they risk court action if they continue.

International record companies’ trade association the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) announced lawsuits today against 247 file sharers.

The BPI last week announced that it has begun a campaign of sending warning messages to internet users who make unauthorised music files available over peer-to-peer networks.

Simultaneously it released independent research showing that 8.0m people in the UK are downloading music, and another 7.6m say they plan to start. Nine out of 10 of those currently downloading are doing so illegally. The survey revealed that UK downloaders spent 32% less on albums and 59% less on singles in 2003.

BPI chairman Peter Jamieson says, “We will be closely monitoring the impact of litigation in other territories.”

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