First of 15,000 German warez buyers brought to court

The state prosecutor’s office of Mühlhausen in Germany has started criminal proceedings against the first of up to 15,000 users who, according to the German society for the pursuit of copyright infringements, have knowingly paid for illegal content on the internet. It is one of the biggest cases of Internet piracy and illegal copying ever discovered.

Last year German police arrested a 46 year-old lawyer who, along with two brothers from Thuringia, offered bootleg software, games and movies through the high speed download service Ftpwelt.com. Among the releases offered were movies shot in cinemas with digital camcorders. According to the police the men grossed over €1m.

Ouch! That’s what you pay for buying illegal software though. Check it out at The Register.