Peer-to-peer user fined £3,400 in landmark case

The clampdown on peer-to-peer file sharing services and users has taken another step forward as an Essex man was fined £3,400 for illegally sharing commercial software across the net.

Derek Butterworth, a mobile phone engineer from Epping was identified as part of the Federation Against Software Theft's (FAST) Operation Tracker investigation into p2p software sharing.

FAST successfully prosecuted Butterworth, who was using a piece of illegal software that cost £35, and as a result he's been hit with court costs and fine. "The penalty was almost 100 times more than the cost of doing the right thing and buying the software in the first place", observed Senior Legal Counsel Julian Heathcote Hobbins.

FAST secured a court order last year that compelled several ISPs to reveal details of Butterworth's p2p activity. It contacted Butterworth, warning him that illegal content had been found and made available for sharing on his PC. It asked him to pay a licence fee for the software and sign an undertaking that he would not offend again. According to FAST, Butterworth failed to respond, later claiming that he had not received the FAST letter.

Butterworth was contacted on two separate occasions, and was notified in writing that illegal content had been found and made available for sharing on his PC. The letters invited him to settle, pay a licence fee and contribution to costs, and sign an undertaking that he would not commit the offence again. Butterworth did not respond.

FAST appear to have approached the case in a different, more measured way to their counterparts in the US. Firstly, most offenders there quickly settled out of court, paying a nominal fine and signing an agreement not to reoffend. Secondly, it was only after being ignored several times that FAST took things to a more serious level.

John Lovelock, director general of FAST said that it would continue to monitor and search for shared software illegally shared.

'There is an underlying notion that the internet is an anonymous cocoon, which is simply not the case,' he said. 'When you connect to the internet and access peer-to-peer networks you are identifying yourself and your details to the millions of others on that network, including us. Tracker works, and if people think they can either hide from or ignore their liabilities, then they need to think again. Misuse of software is something individuals cannot plead ignorance to. Theft is theft and will be treated accordingly.'

FAST noted that the £3,400 costs and damages payment was almost 100 times more than the £35 licence fee for the software in question.

(Additional reporting by Simon Brew)

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