Lawsuit filed against John Does in QC for illegally downloaded music

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By Ann McGlynn | Friday, March 28, 2008 |

Twenty “John Does” known only by Internet addresses were sued in U.S. District Court in Davenport this week by members of the Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA.

The lawsuit is the latest in a five-year-old initiative to crack down on peer-to-peer file sharing. It is one of several filed in the two federal courts in the Quad-Cities against named and unnamed defendants since the industry launched a campaign in September 2003.

Nationwide, 28,000 lawsuits have been filed, with 9,800 settlements reached.

“Why take the risk when there are so many legal sites out there?” said Liz Kennedy, a spokeswoman for the RIAA.

The plaintiffs in the most recent action here include recording powerhouses such as BMG and Virgin, as well as lesser-known entities like Zomba and Lava. Songs downloaded off of peer-to-peer services are from artists ranging from Depeche Mode to Trick Daddy.

Many of the lawsuits filed in the Quad-Cities have been settled for undisclosed amounts or dismissed. However, in one “John Doe” lawsuit filed in June 2007, the University of Iowa is fighting providing the industry with who was assigned the Internet addresses on which alleged illegal sharing of more than 10,500 files took place.

The university says online addresses are assigned to a single jack in each dorm room once a year, court documents say, and “this means that determining the room to which an IP address was assigned does not provide any useful information.” The industry countered and won a court order requiring the university provide the information.

The UI lawsuit is part of a one-year-old deterrence program specifically aimed at college students, Kennedy said. Studies have shown that college students download at a higher volume than others. More than 5,600 letters have been sent to universities notifying them of users on their systems that are violating downloading rules. Of that, 3,150 people have settled.

The RIAA has notified the University of Iowa of 90 students improperly downloading music. Ten students have settled. At Iowa State, 28 students have been targeted. No one from St. Ambrose University, Augustana College or Western Illinois University has been discovered, Kennedy said.

How the industry settles with downloaders is not public, Kennedy said, however “the earlier they settle, the less they will settle for.”

She added: “We’re not making money off these efforts, but we do see the deterrent factor of it.”

Ann McGlynn can be contacted at (563) 383-2336 or amcglynn@qctimes.com.