TMCnet News
H.K. court orders ISPs to give up names of 49 movie pirates+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)HONG KONG, May 9_(Kyodo) _ The Hong Kong High Court on Tuesday ordered four Internet service providers to provide the identity of 49 Internet users suspected of pirating three local movies using BitTorrent file-sharing software, local media reported. Hong Kong's Motion Picture Industry Association, which represents the three movie producers in filing the suit, said they suspect that 49 Internet users shared among themselves files of the movies during the Chinese New Year holidays earlier this year, Cable TV reported. It is the first time in Hong Kong that movie makers joined hands in filing lawsuit against movie pirates. The Internet service providers have agreed to provide the names, mailing addresses, IP addresses and identity numbers of the Internet users within 21 days as ordered by the court. Lawyers representing the movie makers said the companies will give warnings before taking further steps to sue for damages, the report said. Chan Nai-ming, a 38-year-old Hong Kong man, was sentenced to three months in jail for copyright infringement in October last year for using BitTorrent software to share three movies with dozens of users on the Internet. |