Recording Companies Sue Marshall Students for Copyright Infringement
The Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette reported yesterday that record companies, including Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Bros. Records, Inc., have filed lawsuits against two Marshall University students for copyright infringements based on the students’ alleged illegal file sharing. The plaintiffs allege that on January 18, 2007, Tristan Hicks downloaded and/or distributed 487 songs, and on January 19, 2007, Jonathan P. Shrewsberry downloaded and/or distributed 240 songs.
The plaintiffs seek an injunction against each defendant prohibiting any further infringement of copyrighted materials and requiring the destruction of all such recordings, statutory damages for each infringement of each copyrighted recording, and costs and attorney’s fees. Here are the complaints against Shrewsberry and Hicks, which were filed on September 18.
Apparently, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sent pre-litigation settlement letters to Shrewsberry and Hicks. According to the RIAA, those letters give “students the opportunity to resolve copyright infringement claims (www.p2plawsuits.com) against them at a discounted rate before a formal lawsuit is filed. Each pre-litigation settlement letter informs the school of a forthcoming copyright infringement suit against one of its students or personnel and requests that university administrators forward the letter to the appropriate network user.”
The RIAA sent out 403 letters to 22 universities this week, and filed 24 copyright infringement lawsuits, including presumably those against Shrewsberry and Hicks. As of March 2007, Marshall was on the RIAA’s list of the top 25 universities to receive copyright infringement complaints.
I realize that what Shrewsberry and Hicks are alleged to have done violates the recording companies' copyrights, and I am not condoning their conduct. But I have always felt that the RIAA lawsuits are a misguided effort to enforce its members' copyrights. And I'm not alone. Here's what the Electronic Frontier Foundation has to say about the RIAA's approach.
