There is an interesting article in the Times newspaper today. 

Five game developers - Atari, Topware Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters, have decided to get together to take legal action against people who illegally download their games.

The developers are to serve legal action against 25,000 people across the UK.  The people can avoid legal action and pay damages of £300 per person in out of court settlements.  If they decide to go to court it could cost the person up to £16,000 in damages.  The first 500 people who choose to ignore the letters demanding the £300 fee will be taken to court in the first wave of action.  It certainly is a lottery if people do choose to ignore it.

The regular line from people who download software/music illegally is that it does not hurt the industry.  But to cite a few figures from the article, Topware Interactive released Pinball 3D.  It sold 800 copies but was illegally downloaded an estimated 12,000 times.  

I fully support any action these developers want to take.  If people choose to be a “knock off Nigel” then they should pay the price. 

The lesson is to don’t be a knock off Nigel and do your bit into supporting developers and the game industry.