Last Friday, US marshals shut down an Internet video game piracy operation based in Manhattan, according to a release issued by the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA). The marshals seized "equipment and files used to illegally produce and sell more than one hundred game titles," the IDSA said.

　　IDSA and eight of its members - Sony Computer Entertainment America, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Crystal Dynamics, GT Interactive Software, Interplay, Virgin Interactive Entertainment, and THQ Inc. - filed a complaint against an Internet site operated by Liam McLaughlin that, the IDSA says, "offered pirate versions of more than one hundred games designed to run on the Sony PlayStation." The IDSA obtained a court order allowing the marshals to seize the equipment in the raid, the court also issued a temporary restraining order that bars McLaughlin from "copying, reproducing, distributing, displaying, or preparing derivative works of Plaintiffs' video games and their associated packaging" and "manufacturing, producing, or assisting others to manufacture or produce modification chips that enable the counterfeit video games to be played on Sony PlayStation devices."

　　Doug Lowenstein, IDSA president, said that this measure "launches a coordinated campaign by the video and computer game industry to move against the burgeoning problem of online piracy of our products. We are committed to a sustained program to investigate and act against those who use the Internet as a haven for illegally distributing and/or selling video and computer games and expect to file additional cases shortly."

　　The selling of pirated video and computer games is a burgeoning enterprise, Lowenstein and the IDSA contend. Indeed, in the past few weeks, the IDSA said, it has closed the doors on more than 50 web sites offering pirated entertainment software for sale or for free downloads.

　　The IDSA claim against McLaughlin contended that he "knowingly copied and sold PlayStation software on gold, recordable CD-ROMs via e-mail. These actions constitute willful copyright infringement, trademark counterfeiting, trademark infringement, false designation of origin, trademark dilution and unfair competition. The penalty for each instance of copyright infringement is a fine of up to US$100,000, and the penalty for each instance of trademark infringement is a fine of up to $1 million."

　　Lowenstein continued, "Internet piracy has now become a cottage industry which threatens the continued growth of the entertainment software industry. Counterfeiters know full well that their cyberspace thievery is every bit as illegal as robbing a bank, but they act with impunity nonetheless. We intend to change that."