The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said on Monday that Swedish music labels have now started to track down illegal file-sharers using an Internet Protocol that is considered unlawful, adding that it has already filed several lawsuits at the Stockholm district court.
IFPI Swedish chapter has asked the court to make users’ ISP address available and hand down the necessary information needed in the case. The chapter also said that it will then decide on what to do next.
It has been several years now since the IFPI has started its battle against illegal file-sharers, citing the need to address the growing problems of unlawful music download in the Internet.
It will be recalled that in April 2009, the Swedish government has implement a new legislation based on the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) of the European Union.
Under the said law, copyright holders are allowed to request the court information for the ISP address of users and provide them the necessary IP linked to the computers that have downloaded music files illegally through peer-to-peer file-sharing websites.
The law has opened the door for the music industry to implement a more aggressive tactic to flush out illegal downloader.
On Monday, the cases filed against the alleged illegal downloader has marked the first move by the music labels to fight P2P networks and users that has been taking advantage of the free music files they share in the Internet.
IFPI also revealed that they plan to take more advantage of the law by filing more charges against those who will be found sharing files. However, they said that they will have to wait for the result of the pioneering case before they make another move.
The accused user was said to have downloaded more than 50 songs and has made it available to different P2P platforms. IFPI also said that despite the low number of the actual songs shared, the actual activity of each song can reach to over 10, 000 downloads each day.