Music Industry Sues More File Swappers

[Sparkle1984]

Music Industry Sues More File Swappers
Wed Dec 3, 6:45 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Recording Industry of America on Wednesday filed 41 new lawsuits against Internet users who trade songs online, saying the legal campaign was producing a growing number of settlements and drawing greater public support.

The trade group filed its third wave of lawsuits since September in federal courts across the United States, targeting users who each uploaded about 1,000 copyrighted music files on peer-to-peer networks, a spokesman said.


The RIAA (news - web sites) planned to warn another 90 users that they may be sued, the spokesman said.


Under copyright law, each defendant can be held liable for $750 to $150,000 in damages if the lawsuit is successful.


The RIAA said it had reached monetary settlements with 220 Internet users it had accused of illegally copying and distributing music online through peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa and Morpheus.


In addition, more than 1,000 Internet users have voluntarily promised to stop copying music through peer-to-peer networks to avoid prosecution, the RIAA said.


The trade group, representing the largest record labels, has now sued 382 peer-to-peer users since September to deter a practice that the industry believes cuts into CD sales.


The trade group also released a survey showing greater awareness of copyright laws. Of 802 Americans surveyed in November, 64 percent said distributing music over peer-to-peer networks violates copyright laws, up from 37 percent in November 2002.


The RIAA faced widespread criticism when it filed its lawsuits in September, but the same survey showed that 56 percent support the industry's legal campaign.


But an attorney with the San Francisco-based Electronic Freedom Foundation, an Internet civil liberties group, said on Wednesday that suing music lovers was a losing strategy for the recording industry.


Jason Schultz, a Foundation attorney, said the trade group should consider alternatives that would allow consumers to continue uploading music for a flat licensing fee similar to the arrangement obtained by radio stations.


Schultz also wondered whether the industry's survey accurately reflected consumer sentiment. "They surveyed 802 Americans when 60 million are still file sharing. To me that is a much larger, louder message...as far as what is happening in the real world (news - Y! TV) and what Americans really want," Schultz told Reuters. "Until they come up with a more positive approach that treats Americans like consumers instead of criminals they are going to continue to alienate...some of their biggest fans."


RIAA member companies include Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group; Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Music; EMI Group Plc (news - web sites) ; Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news) (news - web sites).'s Sony Music; and Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites)'s BMG.


Sony Music and BMG have announced plans to merge, while a private group of investors is in the process of buying Warner Music.


SOURCE

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I bet that so-called survey of public opinion is biased!! Where do they think they are getting this support from??!! I bet that poll wasn't done by an independent group.......

[bryanskrantz]

surveys are only there to prove a point. lets say an independant research institute wants to do a survey on public opinion, the record industry would to another survey on public opinion counterpointing the original survey. basically what this shit is about is the public wanting free music while the record industry wanting more money because of rising costs on thier recording equipment, travel, etc.

[james_bond_rulez]

Despite this, the community of the free file sharing remains strong and united

[3rd gen noob]

this isn't a very big surprise...

also, at:

The trade group also released a survey showing greater awareness of copyright laws. Of 802 Americans surveyed in November, 64 percent said distributing music over peer-to-peer networks violates copyright laws, up from 37 percent in November 2002.

[ninjamonkey]

check this oen out

http://rn01.rednova.com/news/stories/3/200...3/story007.html

there suing peopel who dont even have computers

[abu_has_the_power]

Originally posted by ninjamonkey@4 December 2003 - 15:49
check this oen out

http://rn01.rednova.com/news/stories/3/200...3/story007.html

there suing peopel who dont even have computers

ur link don't work . this will be a great addition to my speech thingy

[Sparkle1984]

Originally posted by abu_has_the_power+4 December 2003 - 21:52--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (abu_has_the_power @ 4 December 2003 - 21:52)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-ninjamonkey@4 December 2003 - 15:49
check this oen out

http://rn01.rednova.com/news/stories/3/200...3/story007.html

there suing peopel who dont even have computers

ur link don&#39;t work . this will be a great addition to my speech thingy [/b][/quote]
The link seems to work OK here. Incase you can&#39;t get to see it, I&#39;ve pasted the story below.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The recording industry has filed 41 more lawsuits against computer users in at least 11 states it said were caught illegally distributing songs over the Internet, continuing its aggressive campaign against online music piracy.


The latest copyright suits this week bring to 382 filed since the Washington-based Recording Industry Association of America announced its legal campaign nearly six months ago.


The group&#39;s president, Cary Sherman, said the group has no plans to cut back, even as media coverage over the continuing lawsuits wanes.




"People who engage in illegal file-sharing should be aware, whether or not they hear about it this month, that doesn&#39;t mean the enforcement program has been reduced in any way," Sherman said. "If anything it will be increased."



The recording industry is monitoring popular Internet services where computer users can download song files, searching for people illegally distributing the largest music collections. Court-issued subpoenas compel Internet providers to identify their customers linked to the online accounts used to download songs.


Among the RIAA&#39;s recent targets is retiree Ernest Brenot, 79, of Ridgefield, Wash., who wrote in a handwritten note to a federal judge that he does not own a computer nor can he operate one.


Brenot was accused of illegally offering for download 774 songs by artists including Vanilla Ice, U2, Creed, Linkin Park and Guns N&#39; Roses.


Brenot&#39;s wife, Dorothy, said she and her husband were stunned by the claims, offended at the suggestion they listened to such music. Brenot was targeted in the previous round of 80 suits the recording organization filed late in October.


Brenot and her husband said their son-in-law briefly added Internet service to their own cable television account while living with the couple because Comcast Cable Communications Inc. said it would add a surcharge to send separate bills to the same mailing address.


"There&#39;s a mistake in this case," Dorothy Brenot said. "We&#39;re innocent in all of this, but I don&#39;t know how we&#39;re going to prove it."


The 41 most recent suits were filed against Internet users in Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona, Connecticut, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois and Washington.


The recording industry also said Wednesday that it has reached financial settlements against at least 220 computer users. Defense lawyers familiar with some of the cases have said penalties ranged from &#036;2,500 to &#036;7,500 each.


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[abu_has_the_power]

ok. now it works. who is this author? is he credible? like is he a famous journalist? does he work for some news company? i can&#39;t really use this in my speech unless he&#39;s credible, or aka famous

[cappella(m)]

Oh god oh god.. I can only laugh about this whole lawsuits bullshit.. 220 users.. 380 users?? Is the RIAA stupid or what ?? No one will be scared.. There are so many millions I don&#39;t even know how many using filesharing programs and they come with their few hundreds lawsuits... oh yeah and they even sue people who don&#39;t own a computer. I think it&#39;s all a big lie.. The RIAA is trying to fight against a very strong enemy.. and they never will win this war...they should better write a request for insolvency &#33;&#33; haha
whatever...Europe is not affected..

[Sparkle1984]

Well, I&#39;ve had a look around the site, and it says that RedNova is an internet community offering articles and discussion about space, science, and technology.
I don&#39;t really know about the author, but I should think the source seems to be reliable enough to include in your speech.