KazaA KazaA KazaA ... And A New Court Case...

[Steven H]

The first court case against an illegal music supplier using a file-sharing network has been successfully concluded. A 23-year-old apprentice from Cottbus in eastern Germany had illegally provided several thousand music tracks for download on KaZaa. The civil court decreed that the offender has to pay €8,000 in compensation. He also faces a fine amounting to 80 day rates (in the case, €400 due to his low income) plus court costs.

The judgement is already final. The public prosecutor had requested the identity of the music pirate from the Internet provider in April. The regional public prosecutor’s office then applied for a search warrant to obtain proof and ordered the search in early May. The mother of the accused was picked up from work and the offender also turned up at home soon after. The police found a PC storing around 6,000 MP3 music files and confiscated around 100 burnt CDs holding well over 1,000 music tracks.

Following swift criminal proceedings, the civil claims were also soon settled. The offender signed a declaration of forbearance obliging him to stop distributing music files illegally. He also has to pay €8,000 in compensation. The sum from the civil proceedings accounts for the large number of music tracks made available.