The trade group that represents Hollywood’s major motion picture studios intends to file as many as 230 lawsuits in coming weeks against individuals who have illegally shared copyrighted movie files over the Internet.
It would be the first time that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has sued individuals for sharing files. Potential targets of the lawsuits have not received warnings.
By putting Internet users on notice that they face fines or other stiff penalties for offering movies for others to download, the industry hopes to thwart the same problems that plagued the recording industry three years ago when executives did not respond quickly enough to the threat of piracy.
