Woman fined £16,000 for illegally downloading a game

Computer game firms have declared war on illegal downloads demanding money from thousands of families who got releases on the internet for nothing.
Top games developers, including those behind The Lord of the Rings, are serving notices on 25,000 people across the UK telling them to pay £300 to settle out of court. If they refuse they risk being taken to court with plans to target the first legal actions against 500 people who ignore their letters. The action is being taken by five companies: Atari, TopWare Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters. They are responsible for top games, which as well as Lord of the Rings also includes the Colin McRae Rally series and Operation Flashpoint. The group have appointed law firm Davenport Lyons to force through the action, as estimates say six million engage in file sharing illegally.
This latest move is part of a wider offensive by companies to protect their copyright on the internet, which has seen the music industry also trying to tackle it. Earlier this week Isabella Barwinska, who at the time lived in Leytonstone, east London, was the first offender to be made to pay damages to a manufacturer of computer games.

She was made to pay £16,000 after being taken to court by computer game manufacturers TopWare Interactive, who were seeking to protect their copyright. A British woman has been ordered to pay US game developer Topware Interactive £16,000 after illegally downloading one of its PC games Dream Pinball. Some experts are now warning the floodgates could be opening for other game (as well as music and film) companies to try to claim money from illegal file-sharers. As reported by MCV, the Patents County Court in London ordered the woman to pay damages of more than £6,000 and costs and reimbursements of £10,000 to Topware Interactive for downloading the game.

?We haven?t played Dream Pinball, but we?re guessing it probably isn?t worth spending that much on.? ???lmfao