James Delahunty
5 Apr 2006 8:47
The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has claimed that illegal file sharing of copyrighted music has cost the British music industry around £1.1 billion but that the percentage of Internet users using file sharing has dropped slightly. These claims have come as the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) unleashed a further 2,000 lawsuits against P2P users it alleges to be sharing thousands of copyrighted tracks on "unauthorised networks".
File sharing networks are completely legal so don't get confused by how iTunes and Napster are dubbed "legal services". The IFPI's latest action which include individuals in 10 countries bring the total number of lawsuits against people in Europe to over 5,000. Additionally the IFPI is also now using a new method; forcing ISPs to cut Internet access from people found to be sharing music.
In the UK, 100 people have settled with the BPI. The group's estimate of a £1.1 billion (approx £650m trade value) loss cites research from TNS Worldpanel, an independent research company. It estimated that file sharing cost the music industry £414m in 2005, £376m in 2004 and £278m in 2003. The film relies on a survey for the conclusion that the percentage of people downloading illegally has fallen to 15.4% in 2005 from 16% in 2004.
Source:
Macworld