I'm one of the lawyers for FTD. The case we started is purely civil law: we ask the court to confirm that downloading for personal use is legal, and that FTD is doing nothing wrong by letting people identify materials available on Usenet that others may want to download. The criminal aspect relates to a statement by BREIN that FTD is engaging in "criminal activities" by offering their platform. We consider this a form of defamation. But acting against defamation is also a civil action.

When you accuse someone of violating a law, you have to show where and how he did that. You usually do this by copy&pasting the text of the statute and explaining how each element applies to what your opponent did. For example, for the cause of action "copyright infringement" you need to prove three elements: (1) your copyright ownership to the work, (2) defendant's access to the work, and (3) similarity with your original. What the court here says is that you have to do more than say "I own the copyright in the work. Defendant had access to it, and what he has published is very similar to my work." That's a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action. Arnoud