Music industry unlikely to co-operate with games companies' legal move

12:24 | Wednesday August 20, 2008

Five games companies are writing to 25,000 people in Britain suspected of illegal downloading and demanding £300 from each of them to avoid further legal action. They are also preparing to take an initial 500 people to court if they refuse to pay.

Despite the move by Atari, Topware Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters to act against illegal downloaders in a similar way to how the record industry dealt with filesharers a few years ago, the BPI says tactics have changed and it is unlikely to ally itself with the games industry's initiative.

Matt Phillips, director of communications at the BPI, says it is now working with ISPs to educate consumers to combat illegal downloading, rather than charging and fining those who file share. The music industry explored punitive action against illegal file sharers in 2004 and 2005, when it launched a number of law suits against people making music available online for free.

The gaming companies’ initiative was launched on the back of a legal ruling this week where the first person in Britain, Isabela Barwinska, an unemployed mother of two, was ordered to pay £16,000 to Topware for illegally sharing their game Dream Pinball.