Drip by drip, the music industry is now chalking up wins in its legal fight to have ISPs clamp down on illegal downloaders. Latest example - SonyBMG pressed the German government to copy French providers’ three-strikes-and-out policy. The label’s local head Edgar Berger: “I would like to see this system in Germany. We have received positive signals from politicians.” He said the recent French move had proved disconnecting offenders was an effective deterrent.

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DPA: “The country’s constitutional court ruled Wednesday that it was legal for telecoms companies to log downloads and phone calls for six months, but the data could not be used against minor crime.” Inspired by the French policy, the IFPI kicked off 2008 by lobbying hard for ISP monitoring. Now British ministers appear convinced of the need, labels in Ireland are in court to win approval for the strategy, even Sweden is set to get tough. The tide appears to be turning in the labels’ favour.

But not so much that Bertelsmann (Sony’s (NYSE: SNE) 50-50 JV partner in SonyBMG) isn’t still spooked by the state of the industry. CFO Thomas Rabe says it would consider selling its stake if Sony offers the same kind of money EMI got from Terra Firma last year. Via Times.