RIAA Files 500 More File-Trading Lawsuits
POSTED: 10:18 am PST January 21, 2004
The recording industry has filed more than 500 new lawsuits against computer users it claims illegally distributed songs over the Internet.It's the biggest batch of lawsuits filed at one time by the Recording Industry Association of America since it launched its campaign to crack down on Internet music piracy last summer.
Industry lawyers filed the newest cases against defendants identified as "John Doe" and by their Internet protocal addresses. The RIAA lawyers plan to work through the courts to learn their names and where they live.The legal campaign is resuming after an appeals court decision last month that made it tougher to track computer users swapping songs online and sue them. Verizon won a ruling that said copyright holders should not have been given the right to subpoena customer information from Internet service providers.Last week, a consumer survey indicated that while there was a drop in use of peer-to-peer file trading when the legal offensive started, consumers have started to return to those services, despite the recent crop of legitimate digital music stores, such as Apple's iTunes Music Store and Napster.
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Previous Stories:
- January 16, 2004: File-Swappers May Be Losing Fear Of RIAA
- January 5, 2004: Dramatic Drop Seen In Music Swapping
- December 19, 2003: RIAA Can't Get Info From ISPs, Appeals Court Says
- December 4, 2003: RIAA Expands Lawsuits Against File Traders
- September 15, 2003: Verizon Continues Fight Against RIAA's Information Requests
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
