James Delahunty
11 Mar 2008 12:23
According to the Irish Examiner on Tuesday, the Irish arms of the four largest record companies in the world are taking the largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Ireland to the High Court. Eircom revealed in October to the music companies that it is in no position to install web filtering software on its network to tackle growing illegal file sharing in the state.
The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) has previously targeted heavy sharers of illegal music files with litigation, but according to IRMA chairman, Willie Kavanagh, this selective targeting of file sharers proved to be very time consuming and costly. Meanwhile the music companies believe the action was not sufficient to safeguard their intellectual property.
CD sales in the country have suffered a €44 million loss in the past six years with a decline in total sales from €146 million in 2001 to €102 million in 2007, or a 30% decline overall, according to Kavanagh. Now the music companies seek to force Eircom to filter the traffic on its networks and stamp out illegal file sharing by its users.
In an affidavit, Kavanagh outlined public-awareness actions taken by the trade group in the country to discourage music piracy. However, he said Internet pirates come from all walks of life and that today some young people have never known a time when they have had to pay for sound recordings.