Japan may be going ham on illegal downloaders, but an adjustment to the UK small claims system has made it easier for UK Internet users to defend themselves against “dubious claims of piracy”.

ISPreview [via Music Week] report that a new small claims track, introduced to the Patents County Court (PCC) by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) will help to provide rights holders with the option to challenge accusations of Internet copyright infringement, through reducing the cost of pursuing “Intellectual Property infringement cases”. Previously, the costs were such that cases were rarely taken to court – instead, law firms would send the accused settlement letters.

It’s worth reading the whole piece on ISPreview for more details – legalese is hardly FACT’s strong point, but given 2012’s general crackdown on music piracy (see: Megaupload, Century Media, Pirate Bay, Japan) these issues are worth keeping abreast of.