The industry body’s commissioned its own research into the costs of the Digital Economy Bill’s copyright clauses.

The defendant in Britain’s first prosecution over illegal file-sharing has been found not guilty.

Now the Government’s put a timetable in place for its plans to disconnect persistent online pirates, one ISP is considering a counter-attack that could see more than individual file-shares up in court. TalkTalk says it may resort to legal action if Lord Peter Mandelson continues with his plans – and it’s not the only one unhappy with the business secretary.

The industry body representing the UK’s record companies has just announced this is already the “biggest ever year” for sales of singles in Britain. Meanwhile, figures from the Motion Picture Association of America show that movie takings are, on the whole, rising. With Lord Peter Mandelson expected to outline the Government’s plans for dealing with illegal downloading tomorrow, what price piracy?

After BT made the claim that getting tough on Internet piracy would cost around £1 million per day, the body representing the music industry has launched a counter-offensive. BPI boss Geoff Taylor says broadband companies have seen their revenues rising while those of the record business have gone the opposite way because of piracy – and that the ISP’s stance is “just about protecting profits.”

While the mainstream media were getting themselves worked up about YouTube and PRS finally coming to a financial settlement, it has emerged a band of bodies representing major musicians is mounting a protest against the Government’s recent u-turn on the road towards Digital Britain. The coalition, which the likes of Sir Paul McCartney and Damon Albarn associate themselves with, says the ministers’ new proposals are “extremely negative,” expensive and just don’t make sense.

New music services from Virgin Media look inevitable after the fibre broadband provider announced today it had appointed Richard Wheeler to the newly-created post of Head of Music. A company statement summed up the new role has having been created ‘to develop Virgin Media’s music strategy and bring innovative new services to consumers, across mobile, [...]

The BPI has confirmed to SamKnows that although there has been no official statement, it has ditched its call on ISPs to warn, warn again and then disconnect illegal file shares – the so called ‘three strikes and out’ approach.
Whilst it claims to have never used the phrase associated with the practice, a spokesperson for [...]

The gaming industry is coming after illegal downloaders and the bad news for ISPs is it appears the sector is not trying the educational route taken by the music industry.
Lawyers working for American developer, Topware Interactive, creators of Dream Pinball, have not only successfully prosecuted a UK woman for £16,000 worth of damages for illegal [...]

The ice cold relationship between the music industry and the ISPs it expects to police the internet is showing signs of thawing, but only a little and only after the threat of government legislation.
The six leading ISPs have agreed to send out educational letters to subscribers the BPI believes have been downloading music illegally. BT, [...]

Despite hopes being raised at the recent London Calling event where ISPs met representatives from the music industry, the two sides would seem as diametrically opposed as ever on how to deal with unauthorised file sharing, particularly on who should pay to combat the problem.
Although former pop star Feargal Sharkey, now head of the BMR [...]