While it has been coming for some time, the first contested case against a lady who unlawfully allowed others to share a copyrighted game on the internet has ended with a £16,000 payment order against the accused. TopWare Interactive took the action against Isabella Barwinska of London over her sharing of the Dream Pinball 3D game which is available for as little as £9 by more conventional routes. A £16,000 debt for a £9 game just does not make sense, but there seems more to come as people have been warned that such practices are illegal.
The £16,000 payment is made up of £10,000 in costs and £6,086.56 in damages to TopWare Interactive and is being seen as a warning shot to others who may be in the firing line of Davenport Lyons lawyers who are working for TopWare Interactive. They have already stated that there are over 100 other cases due to court in the short term, all in relation to the Dream Pinball 3D game.
If you consider the potential damages which could be received from 100 similar cases, £1.6 million, and then times that figure by the number of games which are being copied and abused on the internet, this could turn out to be a very expensive error by the gaming community! |
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