French anti-piracy agency Hadopi only sued 14 people in 20 months
Found on Ars Technica on Thursday, 06 September 2012
If the third strike is ignored, Hadopi can take legal action, and as of July 1, only 14 offenders have had a case filed with a French court as a result of Hadopi, and none have yet been to trial.
If someone is convicted of illegal downloading of copyrighted materials they can face a fine of up to 300,000 Euros (about $378,000) and 3 years in prison.
President Hollande appointed a new French Minister of Culture, Aurélie Filippetti, who seemed to suggest that she'd push to shut the anti-piracy agency down. "In financial terms, [spending] €12 million euros ($14.86 million) and 60 agents—that’s expensive [just] to send a million e-mails," Filippetti said in August.
Fourteen users may face a trial which means Hadopi invested a little more than $1.06 million per case. If you substract the maximum fine, that leaves a hole of $682,000, paid by the government with tax money to protect the old business model of a dying industry. Yes, Hadopi is really a huge success.