Still, don't think that gives you free rein to start downloading. British courts have found in favour of the record labels in the first two cases of P2P related copyright infringement to actually go to court. Two men had refused to settle out of court after being one of the P2P users targeted by litigation by the UK music industry trade body, the BPI.
The first said the BPI had no direct evidence of copyright infringement. The second said he wasn't guilty because he was unaware that what he was doing was illegal, and that he didn't aim or stand to profit from his file sharing. Neither defence was accepted by the courts, and both individuals have been ordered to stop filesharing illegally, and now face bills for costs and damages that run into thousands of pounds. The trade body hopes the rulings will encourage others it has targeted with litigation to settle out of court, while reinforcing the PR message that participating in illegal file sharing could prove costly if you're caught.
BPI top guy Peter Jamieson told CMU: "The courts have spoken and their verdict is unequivocal: unauthorised filesharing is against the law. We have long said that unauthorised filesharing is damaging the music industry and stealing the future of artists and the people who invest in them. Here is clear confirmation of what we also said - that unauthorised filesharing is illegal."