Game Industry Threatens Downloaders

The game industry is heading the way of the RIAA, in that the industry is threatening to sue people who file share games. The first sets of lawsuits will be taking place in the UK where 25,000 down loaders will be served with notices. Notices that say pay up or we will sue. The companies involved are:

 Atari, Topware Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters – make some of the popular games, including The Lord of the Rings,the Colin McRae Rally series and Operation Flashpoint. It is estimated that as many as six million people in Britain share games illegally over the internet. The aggressive action marks a dramatic change in the approach to copyright on the internet. The British music industry, hit hard by illegal file-sharing, has taken action against just 150 people in ten years.

The game makers have appointed the law firm Davenport Lyons. This week Isabela Barwinska, an unemployed mother of two, became the first person in the UK to be ordered to pay damages to a manufacturer. She must pay more than £16,000 to Topware after downloading Dream Pinball through a file-sharing site.

One can only imagine that it will be only a matter of time before we get here in the US with the same type of lawsuits. What is surprising is that it took the game industry so long to finally try and stop piracy of their software. One would of thought that the game developers would of gotten tired long ago to having their stuff stolen.

What do you think?

Comments welcome.

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