Like earlier actions taken by the music industry, the new filings target major "uploaders" – those who put hundreds of copyrighted songs on to internet file-sharing networks and offer them to thousands or millions of people worldwide without permission from the copyright owners.The defendants, from Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the UK and, for the first time, from Japan, the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland and Iceland, are expected to face compensation payments averaging several thousand euros.Japan is the first Asian country to take part in the crackdown, and its participation follows a 30% drop in the value of its music market between 2000 and 2004, according to the IFPI.The IFPI says its tough approach over the past year is working. It reports that the number of music files downloaded in Germany (which apparently has suffered worst from illegal file-sharing) fell sharply in 2004, down 35% to 382 million files compared to 602 million the previous year.KaZaA, which used to be the largest and most popular file-sharing service, has seen its user figures drop by approximately 45% (from 4.2 million to 2.3 million concurrent users) since the start of the warning and litigation campaign, according to the IFPI."One year of lawsuits, which were taken to stop the theft of music, is not a particularly joyous anniversary to be celebrating. But when you look at the impact the campaign has had over the last year, there are good reasons to be optimistic," said John Kennedy, IFPI Chairman and CEO."Today, people across Europe can be in no doubt that uploading copyrighted music on to file-sharing networks is against the law, affects jobs, investment in music and livelihoods, and carries the risk of financial penalties. We have spent two years raising public awareness of this, and ignorance really is no longer an excuse," he added.The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) agrees, and today announced that it will be suing 33 file-swappers as part of the crackdown.This would bring to 90 the total number of people in the UK that have faced legal action since its campaign against internet piracy began last year. The BPI's first tranche of 26 cases have now settled, with defendants paying a total of more than £50,000 in compensation.The BPI is also celebrating the success of a private prosecution against "The Teesside Ten", a gang of music pirates who were sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud the music and film industries. The gang had made £11,000 per week from local market and mail order sales of counterfeit CDs.Gang ringleaders Mark Bailey and Paul Canning were each sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. The other members of the gang received sentences that ranged from 12 months in prison to a £500 fine.
