Illegal download site creators face 3-mn-euro damages claim
French entertainment industry bodies and major US film studios are to seek nearly three million euros in damages at a civil hearing on Friday from two French youths who ran an illegal downloading site.
The two, aged 22 and 27, were found guilty in April and given suspended six-month sentences and fined 5,000 euros ($6,900) each for operating the site, Undeadlink, which provided links to illegal copies of copyrighted material.
The request for damages is expected to be considered at the court in the eastern town of Bourg-en-Bresse, but the decision may be deferred to another date.
Among those demanding damages are French film distributors and US studios Columbia, Disney, Paramount, Tristar, 20th Century Fox, Universal and Warner Bros.
They are claiming 2.5 million euros in damages and interest, alleging that the site provided access to 520,000 links and facilitated around 80 million downloads, earning the pair around 24,000 euros between May and December 2011.
SACEM, a French royalty collection body, and SCPP, a group protecting the rights of record and video producers, are separately seeking 69,887 euros and 201,872 euros in damages, respectively.
© 2013 AFP
