JUNE 24, 3:20 P.M. – At first there were 37, but now only seven remain to duke it out with lawyers.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed lawsuits on June 13 against seven Syracuse University ‘network users,’ presumably students. They are being accused of copyright infringement and the RIAA is pursuing legal action on behalf of major record companies.

Earlier this year, 37 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses were identified for illegally sharing music and the RIAA left it to the university to distribute letters to the individuals. The letter offered the violators an opportunity to settle out of court. The settlement fee was $3,000 and there was a 20-day window to accept the deal.

According to a news release from the RIAA, those being sued either did not settle during the pre-litigation period or the university failed to provide them with the aforementioned letter. The latter seems unlikely because SU officials have previously said that letters were hand-delivered and accompanied by an e-mail.

The seven individuals are being sued under a ‘John Doe’ lawsuit, whereby the RIAA can subpoena SU to obtain the identity of the IP addresses in question. Up until this point, the accused have remained as anonymous account numbers to the association. It has used SU as an intermediary to contact the accused.

Yet, now the individuals will have to deal directly with the RIAA. And according to the news release, there will be another settlement offer (of a greater amount than the original $3,000) before further action is pursued. If any individual does not accept that settlement, the RIAA will adjust or re-file their complaint to include that person’s name. Once in court the ultimate cost to a individual could soar. The federal rate set for copyright infringement ranges from $750 to $250,000 per song and the RIAA’s expenses for pursuing legal action could also be left for the accused to pay.

SU ranked No. 12 in a RIAA report of illegal file sharing offenses on peer-to-peer networks, such as LimeWire, with 488 violations during the 2006-2007 school year. Yet, university officials dismissed the notion that there were excessive violations at SU because the survey was biased, only accounting for on-campus network users.

The RIAA has spent the past three years working to counteract the abundance of illegal file-sharing by intensely focusing on the college population. Legal action and educational programs have been the most prominent tools in their efforts to establish legal practices regarding digital media files.

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Published on July 1, 2007 at 12:00 pm