Suits Target 2,000 Euro File Sharers

The music industry began the next phase of its fight against file sharers in Europe Tuesday, filing 2,000 more lawsuits against people in 10 countries. Altogether, some 5,500 lawsuits have been filed in 18 countries since the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) started its latest effort.

The IFPI is the European equivalent of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Here in the United Sates, the RIAA has filed nearly 18,000 lawsuits.

Many of those charged with illegal file sharing have settled at an average payment of 2,633 euros ($3,192 USD), the group said. Tuesday's actions by the IFPI were aimed at "uploaders" -- those actually supplying the peer-to-peer networks with illegally copied music.

Users of the FastTrack (Kazaa), Gnutella (BearShare), eDonkey, DirectConnect, BitTorrent, Limewire, WinMX, and SoulSeek P2P networks were named in the suits.

Those targeted come from a wide variety of professions, including a postman in Britain, a judge and a retired couple in Germany, and a carpenter in Finland. Many of those defendants are between the ages of 20 and 35, the group said.

"People who file-share illegally often claim to be music fans but in fact they are hurting investment in music, breaking the law and risking financial penalties by their actions," IFPI chairman and CEO John Kennedy said.

"There have now been so many campaigns to educate people that file-sharing is wrong and illegal that there is simply no excuse for people to continue."

In a previous statement, the IFPI said the digital music industry continues to grow while physical media sales decline. Total CD sales were down three percent, the group said.