A woman who shared a pinball game online has been ordered to pay 16,000 pounds in compensation and legal costs to its creator.

The Patents County Court in London ruled in favour of TopWare Interactive, a U.S. computer game developer that said she had infringed its copyright.

The case is the latest attempt by the entertainment industry to try to protect its music, games and films from growing threat of online piracy, which it says is killing business.

Quicker Internet connections have sparked a boom in people swapping music, films or TV programmes.

The Recording Industry Association of America says file sharing has hit profits, put songwriters out of work and made it harder for new bands to get a contract.

“The crime is theft,” it says on its website. “Everyone who makes, enjoys or earns a living in music is hurt.”

File sharers hotly dispute that argument.

Copyright infringement is not the same as theft because the owner is not deprived of their property.

You wouldn’t expect to end up in court if you loaned a book or DVD to a friend, they argue. So why should it be any different with digital tracks or films?

Cracking down on file sharers will simply drive them further underground, making it even harder for companies to make money out of their content, according to contributors on the Open Rights Group website. 

Regardless of the legal arguments, do you think file sharing is morally wrong? Do you think it stifles creativity by reducing the amount available to spend on new acts?

Teenagers love music and films - but today’s generation don’t expect to pay for them when they can download them for free over the Internet.

The entertainment industry says it is losing millions of pounds from online piracy but Internet service providers have been reluctant to police the activities of their customers.

Now six of Britain’s largest Internet providers have agreed a plan to tackle piracy, agreeing to send warning letters to those suspected of illegal file-sharing.

If the tactic doesn’t succeed, sanctions could be introduced such as disconnection for those warned three times, or filtering to prevent illegal tracks from being downloaded.

What do you think? Are the plans fair and workable? Do you expect to get a warning letter?

It’s not the first time lyrics of popular songwriters have gone under the academic microscope.

Bob Dylan’s verses virtually spawned a faculty on their own in some colleges as students pondered what the great man meant by some of the more obscure gems like Einstein sniffing drainpipes or the kings of Tyrus with their convict list.

Dylan in turn called Smokey Robinson, author of “Ooh Baby Baby”  one of America’s greatest poets.

But Cambridge University turning to Amy Winehouse’s “Love is a Losing Game”  and asking students to compare the lyrics with verses from Elizabethan poet Sir Walter Raleigh has been criticised for dumbing down.

Do you agree? Are there are any song lyrics worthy of study by university students?

The long-range forecast is for drier weather in June and the Glastonbury acts — according to organiser Michael Eavis — are fantastic but something seems to be wrong down in Somerset.

Ticket sales have been distinctly soggy this year, whereas rival festivals like those in Reading or Leeds are boasting sellouts.

Possible causes being bandied around are worries about the mud after last year’s persistent rain; the new registration process which some critics have claimed tends to put off younger fans and the naming of a rapper, Jay-Z, as the headline act.

Some are saying that with something like 177,500 people there last year, the whole event is just getting too big and losing touch with its roots. Why go and slop around in the mud when you can go to one of the growing number of “boutique” music festivals abroad?

Do you think Glastonbury is losing its appeal?