BRUSSELS, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- A Belgian man has been
fined more than 400,000 euros (568,000 U.S. dollars) for illegally copying
films, games, software and music from the Internet, news reports said on
Saturday.
This is the largest fine for piracy ever imposed in
Belgium.
The appeal court in the eastern Belgian city of Liege
imposed damages of more than 400,000 euros (568,000 U.S. dollars) on the man
last week, but the news was only announced Friday by IFPI Belgium, an
organization representing the music industry and the plaintiff in the case.
The case came to light in 2000 after an anonymous
tip-off about large sales of illegal music, films, games and software in the
eastern Belgian town of Verviers. More than 7,500 illegal copies were since
confiscated from the man.
In the first instance the man was ordered to pay just one euro in provisional damages to the parties that had filed the suit. Those parties appealed the first ruling.
