Prague - The Czech police, working with record label trade group the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), have shut down a computer server at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic that hosted what they said was one of the largest collections of pre-release music in the world.

Brussels - Members of the European Parliament voted 314 to 297 this week to approve a measure that asks member nations not to enact laws whose penalties would interrupt users' Internet access, such as France's recent policy that compels ISPs to disconnect the accounts of repeat file-swappers. The wording calls for the European Commission and member states to "avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of Internet access."

Beijing - A Chinese court has agreed to hear two multi-million dollar copyright infringement claims brought by major record labels against Chinese search engine Baidu, and Web portal Sohu and its Sogou media search engine, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The Beijing Intermediate People's Court will hear a $9 million claim against Baidu brought by Universal Music Group, Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG and Warner Music (NYSE: WMG), who will argue that the search engine aids copyright infringement by providing "deep links" to unauthorized downloads on third-party sites.

Stockholm, Sweden - The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) yesterday filed a $2.5 million copyright infringement lawsuit in Sweden against The Pirate Bay, the notorious file-sharing tracker site. Pirate Bay co-founder Gorrfrid Warg responded to the lawsuit in Sweden's The Local thusly: "the record companies can go screw themselves."

London - Major record label EMI, whose new private equity owners had threatened to leave the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) trade group over costs associated with membership and the group's anti-piracy efforts, has decided to stick with the organization after a cost-saving plan was agreed upon.

London - The British government has threatened to enact legislation that would compel Internet service providers in the country to take actions to curb illegal file-sharing, if ISPs and entertainment industry interests cannot come up with voluntary policies by April 2009. "The prospect of legislation to ensure ISPs deal with illegal filesharing, and the proposals to beef up IP enforcement show that the government fully understands the importance of copyright to creators," said Geoff Taylor, CEO of the British Phonographic Institute (BPI), a record label trade group.

London - The U.K. record industry trade group (BPI) has called on Internet service providers in the country to adopt anti-piracy strategies similar to those recently taken in France, where they are now required to shut off access to those who use file-sharing networks to acquire copyrighted content, and the U.K. government is set to propose legislation to that effect, according to reports. "We simply want ISPs to advise customers if their account is being used to distribute music illegally, and then, if the advice is ignored, enforce their own terms and conditions about abuse of the account," said BPI CEO Geoff Taylor, adding that illegal downloading "costs the music business hundreds of millions of pounds a year."

Copenhagen - A Danish court has ordered Internet service provider Tele2 to block access to notorious Sweden-based file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, the result of a civil lawsuit brought by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Reuters reported, citing a story in Danish IT magazine Computerworld.

Stockholm - Prosecutors in Sweden this week filed charges of preparing and participating in copyright infringement against the four individuals behind The Pirate Bay, the notorious BitTorrent tracker site that has been targeted for years by U.S. entertainment companies. "In case we lose the pending trial (yeah right) there will still not be any changes to the site. The Pirate Bay will keep operating just as always. We've been here for years and we will be here many more," reads a response to the charges posted on The Pirate Bay's website.

Brussels - Delivering a setback to the global music industry's legal campaign against illegal file-sharing, the European Court of Justice has ruled that EU countries need not disclose the identities of suspected file-swappers in the course of civil lawsuits. The court found in favor of Spanish telco Telefonica, which argued that EU rules only stipulate that file-swapper identities must be disclosed in criminal proceedings.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

There was no shortage of news for the week of Jan. 21-25. The biggest story: The Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark federal funds rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 3.5%, its lowest level since September 2005, but the Fed’s actions couldn’t stop an already shaky stock market from continuing its downward spiral. After a sharp mid-week increase on news of the rate cut, the DMW100 ended slightly lower on the week.

London - Global digital music sales leapt 40% in 2007, to $2.9 billion, but declining CD sales pushed the overall market down 10% for the year, according to a report issued Thursday by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The group said that digital music sales now account for 15% of the global music market, up from 11% in 2006 and zero in 2003.

Beijing - Yahoo China has lost its appeal of a Chinese court ruling that found the company's digital music service, which offers "deep links" to unauthorized music downloads, facilitates copyright infringement. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), whose record label members first brought the case against Yahoo China, praised the ruling.

London - Major record label EMI, which was recently acquired by private equity firm Terra Firma, is considering leaving record industry trade groups including the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), as a means of cutting costs, Reuters reported.

Paris - French president Nicolas Sarkozy has backed a proposal that would punish those who repeatedly use peer-to-peer networks to trade copyrighted media by terminating their Internet connections, according to published reports.

Tokyo - Yahoo China (NASD: YHOO) has appealed a ruling from a Chinese court that found Alibaba, the parent company of Yahoo China, guilty of copyright infringement for providing "deep links" to sites offering unauthorized songs, lyrics and ringtones, Billboard reported. The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court in April ordered Yahoo China to pay $27,000 in damages to record labels and remove the deep links from its service.

Milan - Italian police and FPM, the local music industry anti-piracy organization, have conducted raids and will charge eleven individuals with copyright infringement for their involvement with a Direct Connect-based file-sharing network in Italy, called "Discotequezone."

London - German authorities this week conducted raids to shut down seven servers utilized by the eDonkey peer-to-peer file-sharing network, following similar recent actions in the Netherlands and France. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) helped win German court injunctions against the DonkeyServer group in Germany. The group said its actions reduced the number of eDonkey users worldwide "by more than a million, knocking an estimated third of users off the network." Developers of the eDonkey file-sharing application last year agreed to cease distribution of the program and pay $30 million to the Recording Industry Association of America to ward off copyright litigation.

Moscow - Following a Russian court ruling that acquitted the company's former head of copyright infringement, discount music download site AllofMP3.com plans to re-open for business, Reuters reported.