FAQ
4th April 2006
| SEE ALSO |
| Press Release |
Illegal music file-sharers targeted by fresh wave of legal action
1) IN WHAT COUNTRIES IS LEGAL ACTION BEING TAKEN?
Legal actions against illegal file-sharers have now been taken in 18 countries. Portugal joins Argentina, Austria, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US who have already brought legal cases in the past.
2) ARE ALL THOSE COUNTRIES ANNOUNCING NEW LITIGATION TODAY?
Many of those countries - such as Germany, Italy and Sweden - are announcing fresh litigation, others - such as France, Ireland and the UK - are concentrating on the ongoing cases they are bringing at the moment and will launch further actions in the future.
3) HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED?
Today we are announcing 1,637 legal actions in 10 countries, bringing the total number of cases against illegal file-sharers to more than 5,522 in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
4) WHY ARE THESE ACTIONS BEING TAKEN?
The actions are taken against p2p uploaders who are breaking copyright law by making music available to others via the Internet without permission from those who created the music. These actions harm the legitimate sales of music, so that the artist does not receive any royalties and the record companies have less cash to invest in new talent.
5) WHAT DAMAGE IS ILLEGAL FILE-SHARING CAUSING THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?
It's a huge problem. Surveys in many of the major markets prove that illegal file-sharing is a major factor in the fall in world music sales, down by three per cent in the last year. The value of audio sales fell by 14% in the Netherlands, 9% in Sweden, 5% in Austria, 5% in Spain, 3% in Canada, 3% in Switzerland, 2% in France and 2% in Denmark, in the past year alone. These are countries whose broadband penetration and capacity has risen sharply over the same period of time.
6) WHO IS BRINGING THESE ACTIONS?
They are being brought by the national record industry associations which represent the music recording industry and in some cases by record labels themselves, in each country. Where criminal cases are taken (such as in Italy) these are brought by the public prosecutor.
7) IS THE RECORDING INDUSTRY SUING ITS OWN CUSTOMERS?
These are not our true customers - these are people who are distributing large amounts of copyrighted music illegally. Their actions are robbing people of their earnings and are tantamount to theft. They aren't customers, any more than people who steal CDs from record shops.
8) WHY NOT TACKLE THE OPERATORS INSTEAD OF THE USERS?
The industry has also been taking action against the operators of the peer-to-peer systems, which are making profits from the large-scale infringement taking place in their systems. In the past 12 months the industry has won cases in the US against Grokster and Morpheus, in Australia against Kazaa and has also had victories in Taiwan and South Korea against peer-to-peer services operating locally. However, people who are uploading music without permission also share responsibility for the infringements.
9) WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DOWNLOAD JUST A FEW TRACKS?
This campaign is aimed primarily at "major uploaders" - those copying and distributing hundreds of files onto the Internet to millions of people.
10) WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THOSE WHO GET CAUGHT? WILL THEY GO TO JAIL OR BE FINED?
That will depend on each country's legal system. However, the likely punishment is a large fine and damages. In many cases illegal file-sharers prefer to reach a financial settlement with the industry to avoid going to court.
11) WHERE CAN YOU GET MUSIC LEGALLY ONLINE?
There are already more than 325 online music sites worldwide (more than 190 in Europe) which offer more than two million tracks - the equivalent of approximately 165,000 albums.
Pan-European sites include those from Coca-Cola, Apple's iTunes, Napster and SonyConnect. In addition there is a plethora of specialised and regional services coming on-stream every month.
A cross-industry initiative promotes all the legitimate online services. You can link to them all from the website. See www.pro-music.org for a list of links.
12) ARE THESE ONE-OFF LAWSUITS OR WILL THERE BE MORE?
It is inevitable that other countries also suffering from the problem will also resort to legal action and join the 20 in Europe, Asia and Latin America that are doing so now. Legal action in each of those 20 countries will continue for the foreseeable future.
13) WHAT CAN PEOPLE DO TO MAKE SURE THEY DON'T FACE ACTION?
They should disable their p2p software's uploading capability and delete music from 'shared folders' on their computers - go to www.ifpi.org to get the free "Digital File Check" software that helps you do this. This software is for use at your discretion and does not tip off any anti-piracy groups.
For more information contact IFPI Communications:
Tel: +44 (0)20 7878 7935
Email: press-office@ifpi.org
Website: www.ifpi.org / www.pro-music.org