The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the trade association for the record industry, earlier this summer announced it has written to Tiscali and Cable and Wireless asking them to suspend individual subscribers’ accounts for unauthorised file-sharing (downloads of music typically).
The action showed the BPI getting tough with “internet pirates” following on from earlier triumphs that have forced ISPs by court order to reveal the details of such customers.
Recent press releases suggest ISPs may try to work with the BPI to avoid embarrassing PR and further court action for copyright infringement under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 whereby by S16 the owner alone has the right to “communicate to the public” which would include electronic transmission.
Other actions by the BPI have included settlements with 111 of the 139 individual defendants pursued to date with the average settlement being paid by the defendant amounting to £2,000 with an undertaking to desist from the downloading activities under scrutiny.
The ISP’s in question had contractual confidentiality clauses and data protection obligations, which meant that the sharing of such personal data without authorisation was illegal, hence arguably the need for a court order application by BPI. The ISP’s also have clauses in their user agreements forbidding breach of copyright.
Any breach would entitle them to suspend the user accounts upon production of evidence, which is what they have requested from BPI.
