Lawsuits against alleged online copyright infringers in the U.S. have reached a new milestone, with more than 200,000 users of the peer-to-peer file-sharing system BitTorrent involved in some stage of litigation.

According to the blog TorrentFreak, 201,828 cases have been filed against BitTorrent users since the beginning of 2010. The users are accused of pirating copyrighted music and movies.

The blog reports that file-sharing suits are becoming a growing revenue source for copyright lawyers, who could be generating an estimated $250 million because defendants often opt to settle for a $2,500 penalty instead of fighting the case and incurring more legal costs and larger fines.

Lawsuits against alleged online copyright infringers in the U.S. have reached a new milestone, with more than 200,000 users of the peer-to-peer file-sharing system BitTorrent involved in some stage of litigation.

According to the blog TorrentFreak, 201,828 cases have been filed against BitTorrent users since the beginning of 2010. The users are accused of pirating copyrighted music and movies.

The blog reports that file-sharing suits are becoming a growing revenue source for copyright lawyers, who could be generating an estimated $250 million because defendants often opt to settle for a $2,500 penalty instead of fighting the case and incurring more legal costs and larger fines.