Games developers to sue file sharers

Thousands of people who swop computer games on file-sharing sites are the latest consumers facing court action for breach of copyright.

Following law firm Davenport Lyons’ successful prosecution of four people in the High Court last month (acting on behalf of German games publisher Zuxxez), four further major games developers have instructed the company to obtain more disclosure orders.

These will force internet service providers (ISPs) to hand over the names and addresses of suspected file sharers so the games manufacturers can take legal action.

Davenport Lyons and its clients are confident of success. A representative said: “In the first round of litigation last year against approximately 500 illegal file sharers of Topware Interactive's computer game Dream Pinball 3D, people were given the chance to make a payment of £350 or prove their innocence; some did.

"Others ignored the letter and in the High Court last month four were ordered to pay £750. This figure isn’t final as it doesn’t include damages or legal costs."

The law firm said the latest legal moves have already seen court orders for several thousand names and addresses to be released. It said there is another application to be issued at the court in relation to approximately a further 6,000 IP addresses.

It would not tell Computeractive who the games developers were bar they were suing for copyright breach of many well-known works that are extremely popular on file-sharing sites. These actions mostly relate to computer games, but films, software and music are also involved.

All claims brought are civil actions under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

"These are civil and not criminal proceedings and the firm has previously clarified that it has not brought any claims through the criminal courts, nor does it currently have instructions to do so," said a Davenport Lyons representative.