Copyright holders seek pre-trial settlement of disputes

More than 200,000 torrent tracker users in the United States have received lawsuits from copyright holders for copyright infringement and the distribution of pirated content.

Copyright holders first approach providers with a demand to disclose users' personal data, after which they directly approach users with a demand to pay a fine, offering in exchange for a cessation of legal proceedings.

This scheme has been particularly active in recent months. Experts note that this approach to dealing with copyright infringers could generate millions of dollars annually.

The number of users facing such charges has exceeded 200,000 since the beginning of 2010. Almost all of them are accused of exchanging data via the BitTorrent protocol. More than 145,000 users still face sanctions.

It is noteworthy that despite the large number of claims against users for copyright infringement, none of these cases have yet been fully heard in court.