More news from the boys with the supenas. Lets show those college punks a thing or two.

I still say, "Boycott, boycott, boycott".
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Record industry sues U.S. file-sharers
Wed April 28, 2004 02:37 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. music industry group says it has sued 477 more people for online copyright infringement as part of its effort to stop music piracy, blamed for a prolonged sales downturn. Since January, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), employing the "John Doe" litigation method, has sued more than 2,000 people.

The RIAA is using this method because the names of the 477 people accused of illegally distributing copyrighted sound recordings on peer-to-peer services were not yet known, said Jonathan Lamy, spokesman for RIAA.

The trade group has identified suspected song-swappers by Internet addresses only since an appeals court in December sided with Verizon Communications by ruling that Internet Service Providers did not have to respond to subpoenas, filed as a prelude to lawsuits, requesting names of users.

As in previous suits, the RIAA plans to discover swappers' names and locations through court-issued subpoenas, Lamy said.

Wednesday's action was directed at file sharers using commercial ISPs as well as 69 people at 14 universities, including Brown, Emory and Princeton.

In March, RIAA suits targeted 89 people using college networks.

"It remains as important as ever that we continue to work with the university community in a way that is respectful of the law as well as university values," said Cary Sherman, the RIAA's president.

The RIAA represents the world's big record labels like Warner Music, Bertelsmann AG's BMG, EMI Group Plc, Sony Corp.'s Sony Music and Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group.

The RIAA has filed 2,454 lawsuits since September, including suits filed before the "John Doe" method became mandatory. It has settled about 437 cases for about $3,000 each (1,700 pounds).