The economic slowdown is now affecting the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), known as the bane of file sharers everywhere. According to CNET News, an inside studio source has informed them that MPAA has made a "significant" number of layoffs that exceeds 10 percent. The source also indicated that more layoffs are coming.

The MPAA files copyright infringement actions and pursues legal claims for the six largest film studios in the U.S. While the MPAA did confirm the layoffs, the spokeswoman for the MPAA did not provide actual numbers or percentages. She indicated that the group’s leadership will remain mostly intact.

In December, Dean Garfield, one of MPAA’s high profile counsels, left MPAA to join the Information Technology Industry Council, a technology trade group, which includes the likes of Dell, IBM, Cisco and HP. Garfield was noted for being sued by TorrentSpy (the BitTorrent search engine that is now defunct) for allegedly hiring a hacker to break into TorrentSpy’s servers to search for certain highly confidential information. The MPAA denied the claim and the action was later dismissed by the court.

With a reduced staff and likely a reduced budget from the motion picture studios it is not known whether the MPAA’s teeth will have the bite they previously had. The lawsuit against RealNetworks for RealDVD is set to be litigated by the MPAA on April 1st. RealDVD software is a technology that allows purchasers of the software to copy and store films on their computer hard drives, which the MPAA claims is a violation of copyright law.