Intellectual Property Law

The Patents County Court has ruled that an individual must pay damages of around ??6,000 and legal costs of ??10,000 to media company Topware Interactive for placing its game (Dream Pinball 3D) on an internet sharing network thereby infringing Topware's copyright in the game. See the BBC's online report today about the ruling which potentially opens the floodgates for similar actions by media companies.

In a file-sharing network such as eMule and eDonkey, the file being shared is held on a member's computer. Those who want access to a particular form of media, be it a game, music item or video, can obtain bite sized chunks of it from everyone else who has it in the network.

The successful action by Topware against individuals shows that media companies are no longer turning a blind eye to internet pirates. The action also sounds a warning to the many individuals who have infringed Topware's and other media creator's copyrighted works over the internet and those who plan to do so.

The ruling is also topical. It comes at a time when the UK's top ISPs are cracking down on illegal downloads (see our blog entry of 24 July 2008) and when the government is expected to consult the music industry in an effort to oblige all ISPs to tackle music piracy. Slowly but surely the creator's of UK Media are fighting back against internet pirates.