File-sharers told to pay £10,000

Four gamers who uploaded the game Dream Pinball 3D onto an illegal file-sharing website have been ordered to pay £2,750 each.

Now solicitors for the producer of the game say that they intend to prosecute up to 1,000 more file-sharers from a list they have obtained from internet service providers (ISPs).

The four individuals, none of whom were named and none of whom were at court yesterday when the fine was handed down, were found to have breached copyright law.

The case was brought by the game's US producer, Topware Interactive, and was held at the Central London County Court.

All four were fined £750 and ordered to pay costs of about £2,000. The original game sells for £16.

Davenport Lyons, the solictors representing Topware International, said it had obtained disclosure orders for 1,000 names from ISPs. They intend to use the list to prosecute more file-sharers later this week.

www.topware.com