Story Published:
Dec 3, 2003 at 1:31 PM PST
Story Updated:
Aug 31, 2006 at 12:21 AM PST
CLARK COUNTY - The recording industry has filed 41 more
lawsuits - including one against an elderly Washington state couple
- that it says were caught illegally distributing songs over the
Internet, continuing its aggressive campaign against online music
piracy.
The latest copyright suits this week bring to 382 filed since
the Washington, D.C.-based Recording Industry Association of
America announced its legal campaign nearly six months ago.
The group's president, Cary Sherman, said the group has no plans
to cut back, even as media coverage over the continuing lawsuits
wanes.
"People who engage in illegal file-sharing should be aware,
whether or not they hear about it this month, that doesn't mean the
enforcement program has been reduced in any way," Sherman said.
"If anything it will be increased."
The recording industry is monitoring popular Internet services
where computer users can download song files, searching for people
illegally distributing the largest music collections. Court-issued
subpoenas compel Internet providers to identify their customers
linked to the online accounts used to download songs.
Among the RIAA's recent targets is retiree Ernest Brenot, 79, of
Ridgefield (near Vancouver, Wash.), who wrote in a handwritten note to a federal
judge that he does not own a computer nor can he operate one.
Brenot was accused of illegally offering for download 774 songs
by artists including Vanilla Ice, U2, Creed, Linkin Park and Guns
N' Roses.
Brenot's wife, Dorothy, said she and her husband were stunned by
the claims, offended at the suggestion they listened to such music.
Brenot was targeted in the previous round of 80 suits the recording
organization filed late in October.
Brenot and her husband said their son-in-law briefly added
Internet service to their own cable television account while living
with the couple because Comcast Cable Communications Inc. said it
would add a surcharge to send separate bills to the same mailing
address.
"There's a mistake in this case," Dorothy Brenot said. "We're
innocent in all of this, but I don't know how we're going to prove
it."
The 41 most recent suits were filed against Internet users in
Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona, Connecticut, New Jersey,
Wisconsin, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois and Washington.
The recording industry also said Wednesday that it has reached
financial settlements against at least 220 computer users. Defense
lawyers familiar with some of the cases have said penalties ranged
from $2,500 to $7,500 each.
