Non-gamers accused of stealing video game

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

It is estimated that nearly six million people are thought to share illegal files, which include music, movies, and games. With the increasing popularity of peer-to-peer sites, illegal file sharing has become a nightmare for copyright holders. Copyright holders have begun to aggressively pursue the illegal use of games, music, and movies through the use of IP tracking. The problem is, innocent people are getting caught in the middle of the battle between copyright thieves and copyright owners. Such as the case of Gill and Ken Murdoch.

Gill and Ken Murdoch, age 54 and 66, received a letter one day, from Atari, informing them they need to pay £500 compensation or face a court case for their illegal sharing of a game called Race07, made by Atari. Atari has since dropped the case, without explanation as to why.

Michael Coyle, an intellectual property solicitor with law firm Lawdit, said that he is handling claims for 70 other people who have been wrongly accused of piracy and has spoken to "hundreds of others". Some of these people are senior citizens who have no idea what these games are, much less how to use the software that allows them to share such files, much like the Murdoch's.

Many of these people are getting accused of piracy and copyright violations due to pirates who are piggybacking on open wireless networks. The pirates are using the open signal to browse peer-to-peer sharing networks, such as Gnutella, BitTorrent, and eDonkey, that allow games, music and video to be shared. Since the Murdoch's are not using a wireless connection, it is unclear exactly how the pirate hacked in and was able to use their connection to gain access to the game Race07.

Despite the problems in proving a person shared a file illegally; rights owners are successfully suing pirates. In a landmark case, games firm Topware Interactive, won more than £16,000 following legal action against Londoner Isabella Barwinska who shared a copy of the game Dream Pinball 3D.

It is largely expected that within the coming year, music firms will follow the gaming firms and begin prosecutions against pirates.