[JURIST] The music industry filed lawsuits Tuesday against 8,000 defendants in 17 countries for allegedly participating in illegal file-sharing. The industry, represented by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) [official website], reported that its latest wave of lawsuits targets people who upload copyrighted songs to file-sharing networks. Many of those being sued are parents of children who are accused of illegally sharing music files on the Internet.

Many countries have enacted tougher file-sharing laws to combat illegal downloading. Russia's new copyright protection law [JURIST report], implemented in September, is the most recent. IFPI's last wave of lawsuits [JURIST report] was a year ago against what was at the time its largest group of defendants - 2,100 allegedly illegal uploaders in 16 nations. Reuters has more.