The CRIA confirmed on Friday that it was following in the footsteps of its American counterpart, the RIAA, and had filed court orders requiring five Canadian ISPs to disclose the identities of the 29 individuals.
Brian Robertson, President of CRIA explained:
"CRIA and its members are taking action against uploaders only and the most egregious examples. These are individuals who are each illegally distributing hundreds if not thousands of music copyright files to millions of strangers. Clearly these people are blatant exploiters of artists' careers and their music, and have no apparent interest in where the music is going to come from in the future."
The US recording industry took action last year, targeting first the companies that supply the file-sharing services, and then the individuals who use them, an attempt to reverse the downward trend in music sales since the advent of peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa. Now the Canadian industry is following suit.
"The Canadian music industry has experienced retail sales losses of in excess of $425 million since 1999," observed Mr. Robertson. "The resulting fall-out both in business and human terms, has been extensive. It includes average staff layoffs of 20% and more and the probability of a dramatic reduction in opportunities for Canadian artists and Canadian music."
The suits filed last week seek to identify individuals identified by the CRIA as offenders. Richard Pfohl, General Counsel for the CRIA commented: "Lawbreakers cannot expect to hide behind a mask of anonymity. We are confident that the court will grant the requested orders".
The hearing, which began on Monday, has already been adjourned until 12th March, according to reports.