Justices won't weigh Net music lawsuit tactics

Published: October 12, 2004, 8:18 AM PDT
By Reuters

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to consider whether recording-industry investigators may use a favorite tactic to find out who may be copying their songs over the Internet.

The Recording Industry Association of America had invoked a 1998 copyright law to force Internet providers like Verizon Communications to turn over the names of customers they suspected of sharing their copyrighted songs.

Verizon had argued that the RIAA must file a formal lawsuit to get customer names, an extra step that they said would discourage frivolous requests.

A U.S. appeals court in December 2003 agreed with Verizon and ruled the RIAA must file anonymous "John Doe" lawsuits to get customer names.

The high court's action is not likely to seriously affect the recording-industry's legal campaign against Internet song swappers, as investigators have sued more than 3,500 individuals since the appeals court ruling.

The Supreme Court rejected the appeal by the recording industry without any comment.