Hide your roms boys...on CNN today
Redmond, WA (Reuters) -- The video game industry, has unleashed its first wave of international lawsuits against Internet rom-swappers. Roms are the read-only programs used in commercial arcade and video game machines.
Writs are being issued against 247 individuals in the U.S. and Canada. The industry vowed more countries will be added to the dragnet in coming weeks.
The North American Video Game Consortium (NAVGC) alleges those targeted put hundreds, even thousands of roms on Internet file-sharing services such as Kazaa and WinMX as well as "newsgroups" such as Google groups and Arcadecontrols.com for others to download.
The industry blames the extensive trade of free games on the Internet for contributing to a five-year slide in coin-operated arcade sales and believes that unless it threatens the biggest file traders with lawsuits, game fans will never buy games on the Internet in meaningful amounts.
"We have made it clear that file-sharing without the permission of the copyright holder is illegal, that it amounts to "file-stealing," and that it affect jobs and livelihoods across the whole industry," said NAVGC chairman Eugene Jarvis.
"Ultimately, though, we have learned that education alone is not sufficient," he added in a conference call with the media.
Some analysts questioned the timing of the lawsuits, saying the recently launched, industry-sanctioned "rom stores" offer an inferior alternative at the moment due to the high cost and lack of selection.
"I think it is misplaced to put this into effect now before there is a wide choice of compelling, legal, arcade game services," said an ArcadeControls.com Research analyst known as "The Saint".
"All it does is deter people from coming into the legitimate folds because it breeds resentment."
The latest legal clampdown is patterned on a controversial campaign by U.S. trade body the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which has sued over 2,000 of the most prolific American music file-sharers since September.
Hefty fines
The individuals in the latest round-up face fines in the thousands of euros or Canadian dollars range, the NAVGC said.
The proceedings are at various stages, with Canadian authorities having obtained the identities of alleged copyright infringers while U.S. officials have gone to court to determine identities.
Until now, the NAVGC had opted for a more cautious approach, investing in education campaigns about the illegality of file-sharing and trying to entice gaming fans to buy roms from the authorized online rom stores.
"This is designed to stop an illegal activity and promote a legal activity," Berman said. "Hopefully, the net result of that will be to increase demand for legitimate services."
Stamping out Internet piracy is viewed as crucial to restoring the fortunes of an industry in decline. Global sales of various arcade gamess fell 7.4 percent in value to $32.2 billion in 2002 and are expected to show a similar decrease in 2003 when figures are released later this year.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/04/01/videogame.lawsuits.mame/index.html
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Topic: Video Game Industry to Follow RIAA Lead with Lawsuits (Read 2252 times)
