Jugaccino

A British woman has been ordered to pay US games firm, Topware Interactive £16,000 after illegally downloading one of its PC games Dream Pinball. Experts are now warning that the floodgates could open for other game, music and film companies to try to claim money from illegal file-sharers.

The Patents County Court in London ordered the woman to pay damages of over than £6,000 and costs and reimbursements of £10,000 to Topware Interactive for downloading the game.

The law firm who represent Topware Interactive currently has civil proceedings launched toward 100 other people suspected of illegally uploading Topware games. The High Court has also demanded ISP’s release the names and addresses of other suspected file sharers.

David Gore, of law firm Davenport Lyons, said: “Illegal file-sharing is a very serious issue resulting in millions of pounds of losses to copyright owners.

“The damages and costs ordered by the court are significant and should act as a deterrent. This shows that taking direct steps against infringers is an important and effective weapon in the battle against online piracy.”

£16,000 for a pinball game. Ouch.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.