UK Anti-Piracy Campaign [Aug 20, 2008, 07:43 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Times Online has news that five developers, Atari, Topware Interactive,
Reality Pump, Techland, and Codemasters, are serving notice to 25,000 UK
families demanding they pay a settlement, or risk being taken to court over
software piracy (thanks
Edge Online). Here's a portion:
The computer games industry has launched an unprecedented assault on illegal downloads, demanding payment from thousands of families who obtained the latest releases over the internet without paying.
Five of the world’s top games developers will serve notice on 25,000 people across the UK, requiring each one to pay £300 immediately to settle out of court. Those who refuse risk being taken to court. The companies will target their initial legal actions on 500 people who ignore the letters.
The companies involved – 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.
Obviously there's a large difference between stealing a game in a store and downloading it from the Internet.Exactly. Someone that pirates a game that they would never have bought as cost the industry nothing. However, they shouldn't be able to enjoy using a product they haven't paid for.
The store will lose the money for the box, but a developer or publisher will only lose money if you actually planned to buy the title but downloaded it instead.
The biggest problem the industry faces is that DRM simply doesn't work and impacts negatively upon legitimate users. If DRM completely prevent piracy and didn't impact the legitimate user then the industry wouldn't have such a problem. I think - and this may be unpopular here - that publishers need to invest more into DRM. Why the fuck should I be limited to 3 activations on my own computer if I own the game? The current crop of DRM is terrible.
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