p2pnet news view | P2P | Movies:- German movie company Constantin Film, co-producer of the Harry Alan Towers Fu Manchu series and the three famous Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, has decided bad and ugly is the way to go.

It’s started the first mass enforcement effort against file sharers, recently identifying more than 10,000 file alleged sharers as infringers, and sending threatening letters to about 500 of them, says Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, quoted by the P2P Blog.

“The company is using these letters to demand out-of-court settlements, asking for 800 Euros (about 1000 USD) per infringing work as well as the promise to not commit any further acts of infringement,” says the story.

“Downloaders that don’t pay up can expect a full-fledged lawsuit.”

Constantin executive Bernhard Burgener told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung his company, which has the German distribution rights for Hollywood productions such as Michael Clayton and Basic Instinct 2, has been going after file sharers since March, says P2P Blog.

“Burgener called the 1000 USD his company is demanding from file sharers ‘largely symbolic,’ says the story, adding if there’s a lesson to be learned from music and porn enforcement campaigns, it’s that rights holders aren’t targeting German downloaders alone.

“It wouldn’t be too surprising to see Constantin go after file sharers in other countries as well,” it adds.

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P2P Blog – Major movie studio starts targeting file sharers, demands 1000 bucks for each downloaded movie, May 5, 2009