TorrentFreak

A court ruling has not only sharply reduced the amount of compensation rightsholders can expect from Danish file-sharing cases, but has also drawn a line on evidential standards. To accurately claim their losses in future, rightsholders will have to gain physical access to an infringer’s computer. A leading lawyer in the field says the costs will prove prohibitively expensive.

In a case that is likely to set guidelines for the punishment of file-sharers in the future, a 26 year-old man from Sweden has escaped his court hearing with little more than a tap on the wrist. After being tracked by the IFPI and accused of making available 44 music tracks on the Internet, the man was taken to court last week. His punishment was a 2000 kronor fine – just $311.

A man and woman who operated a 50TB capacity file-sharing hub have been found guilty of copyright infringement offenses. Despite arguing that their 2,600 member system was set up merely for discussion, the pair now face paying damages to the IFPI of more than $1 million and suspended jail sentences totalling 7 months.

Once again the music industry has published a report featuring the desperate times record labels are facing, all because of file-sharing horrors. Each year the industry’s press releases and annual reports are ever more depressive, with their lobbyists citing horribly inaccurate research and utilizing twisted arguments to beg governments for help. Brace yourself.

IFPI is about to release its yearly report on the state of the music industry, and in a primer at the BBC they already set the tone. ‘Piracy is evil, the Government should help us.’ The BBC reports: The global music industry is to publish a report calling on governments to do more to stop [...]

As we’ve mentioned in a previous article, cutting the funding of torrent sites is one of the strategies that will be used this year to put pressure on torrent sites. As it now turns out the popular private tracker What.CD has been hit hard by the anti-piracy outfit IFPI. What.CD is now hoping to get [...]

This week a ruling from Switzerland’s Federal Court said that an anti-piracy company broke privacy laws when they monitored file-sharers and then used the collected data to extract payments from alleged infringers. While some may think this gives a green light to file-sharers, those sharing large amounts of media should think again – the police might just start showing an interest.