[JURIST] The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) [association website] on Tuesday announced that it has launched its largest international wave of legal action [IFPI press release] against illegal online file-sharing. This latest push targeted 2,100 alleged uploaders [IFPI factsheet] using peer-to-peer networks in 16 nations including the UK, France, Germany and Italy, and first-time nations Switzerland, Sweden, Argentina, Singapore and Hong Kong. This brings IFPI's number of cases outside the US since March 2004 to more than 3,800. In the US, civil lawsuits have been brought against more than 15,597 people since September 2003 with 3,590 settlements. The Recording Industry Association of America [association website] in September filed an additional 750 lawsuits [JURIST report] against individual file-sharers and, earlier this month, file-sharing software developer Grokster agreed to shut down its operations [JURIST report] in order to settle an online piracy lawsuit [EFF materials]. BBC News has more.
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