Archive notice: This article was originally published on June 23, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Although the long arm of the law has recently even led to the arrest of file sharers, lawyers’ piracy warning letters are reportedly going without consequences in many places, even when simply ignored. In recent years, hundreds of Britons have received letters demanding compensation for allegedly uploading copyrighted files, reports the industry portal TorrentFreak. Yet if those affected did not comply with the demand, they reportedly still had no further consequences to fear. “That is not correct. These are rumours from the file-sharing community intended to create the impression that file sharing poses no danger”, counters Dirk Hassinger, managing director of Topware Entertainment.
A group of lawyers, the so-called “Davenport Lyons”, sent the warning letters in question on behalf of the Swiss anti-piracy company Logistep and several media companies such as CodeMasters and the German game producer Zuxxez/Topware. The largest cases of damage reportedly concern the computer games Dream Pinball 3D, Colin McRae Dirt and Call of Juarez. In one case, an affected person who continues to insist on his innocence has already got away twice without paying compensation, TorrentFreak writes. “The warning letters are part of the law firm’s assignment. If the claims for compensation are not paid, the lawyers initiate criminal proceedings against the uploaders. We follow this through in every single case”, Hassinger says.
The mass warning letters include demands for 600 pounds (755 euros). Non-payment brings threats of court action and harsher penalties. Furthermore, those unable to pay were reportedly threatened with having their homes seized, according to TorrentFreak. “The amount in dispute in a prosecution is set by the court. Our highest case so far had an amount in dispute of around 150,000 euros. But it can be significantly higher still. File sharing is no longer a trivial offence”, says Hassinger.
In many cases, those affected say the accusations were false. Even printers’ IP addresses were reportedly identified as offenders, despite their inability to use BitTorrent technology. “Some people simply refused to pay. None of them were charged”, TorrentFreak claims. Estimates suggest that only 40 to 50 percent of the compensation demands were paid, as Hassinger confirms. “Yet there are roughly 100 times as many pirated copies in Germany as in Britain, accounting for around 60 to 70 percent of pirated copies worldwide”, Hassinger says. Lawyers in particular sense a correspondingly large business opportunity.