CD Projekt Fining File-Sharers

CD Projekt noted they would go after illegal file-sharers of The Witcher 2 in an earlier interview with Eurogamer, but as also mentioned in that article, this method of headhunting illegal downloaders does not have a great history of success and can lead to a lot of collateral damage.  Now, TorrentFreak reports that CD Projekt is looking to fine people they track down an amount of 911,80 euros (cash settlement proposal, which in essence is what a fine is), citing this page from a German law firm.

(Yes we will track illegal file-sharing hoping people will find the game good enough to actually change their mind and be willing to pay for it,) CD Projekt’s Agnieszka Szostak told us earlier.

Although this initially sounded quite reasonable, away from the spotlight the company followed in the footsteps of so-called copyright trolls, by signing up for a so-called (pay-up-or-else) scheme. CD Projekt hired a law firm and torrent monitoring company to track those who illegally downloaded and shared the game, and has been sending them hefty cash settlement proposals.

The price CD Projekt is asking through their lawyers is slightly higher than what gamers have to pay in stores, to say the least. Over the past several months thousands of alleged BitTorrent users in Germany were asked to cough up 911,80 euros ($1230) to pay off their apparent debt to the company.

Thanks Blue/Techdirt.