Hollywood sues suspected pirates

The first cases against people accused of pirating feature films and sharing them on the internet have begun, reports The Washington Post.

The lawsuits, which could seek up to $150,000 in damages for each film illegally copied, are the first of their kind to be filed by the movie industry. Motion Picture Association of America President Dan Glickman first signaled the lawsuits two weeks ago when he said that the studios would sue approximately 200 people suspected of illegally trading movies online.

"The future of our industry, and of the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports, must be protected from this kind of outright theft using all available means," Glickman said in a release issued today.