Lawyers demand instant damages for game sharing

Posted on 20 Aug 2008 at 15:50

Thousands of people alleged to have games over the Internet will soon receive a demand that they pay £300 damages or face legal action.

London-based law firm Davenport Lyons said it would apply to the High Court to force ISPs to release the names and addresses of 7,000 alleged file-sharers.

David Gore, a partner at Davenport Lyons, said it had already begun proceedings against several people in Britain who it says have uploaded copyright material to the Internet.

The firm has previously won a case at the Patents County Court in London against a woman who shared a pinball game. She was ordered to pay damages of £6,000 plus £10,000 pounds in legal costs to the game’s maker, Topware Interactive.

“Illegal file-sharing is a very serious issue resulting in millions of pounds of losses to copyright owners,” Gore said in a statement.

Taking direct action against file-sharers will become an “important and effective” weapon to tackle online piracy, he added.

The Times reports that gamers are at most risk as the number of people targeted by Davenport Lyons for sharing games could rise to 25,000. The newspaper says that that the first 500 who ignored the letters would face immediate legal action brought on behalf of five games developers, including Atari, Techland and Codemasters.

This is not the first time that Davenport Lyons has sent out blanket demands for payments to obviate legal action, though it has cut the amount in half, having previously asked for £600. Nonetheless, recipients of the letter, faced with the choice of paying up or expensive legal fees may be tempted to settle, guilty or not.

Author: Simon Aughton

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