Music Industry Sues Seven in South Carolina Associated Press
April 2, 2005 7:39 p.m.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111248843092596359,00.html?mod=technology_main_whats_news
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The music industry has named seven people from across South Carolina in a new round of lawsuits that accuse them of illegal downloads of songs and recordings on the Internet.
"We believe it is critical to simultaneously send a message to individual users of these pirate networks: They can be caught and face consequences for their illegal actions," said Jenni Engebretsen, spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America.
The federal lawsuits, which usually collect between $3,000 and $4,000 per violator, are part of a national crackdown by the industry against downloading copyright music from artists such as Elvis Presley, Madonna and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. The practice costs artists and their labels millions of dollars, according to the recording industry group.
To date, similar suits have targeted more than 9,000 people nationally.
Violators use peer-to-peer file sharing programs -- such as Morpheus, Kazaa, Gnutella, eDonkey and Grokster -- to exchange music. Some of plaintiffs include Virgin Records, Capitol Records, Motown and Sony Entertainment.
The seven defendants are thought to come from across the state, but their hometowns were not identified in court papers. The suits traditionally are initially pursued against "John Does," but additional details are added to case files as the origins of shared materials are electronically tracked on the Internet.
Money collected through the lawsuits goes into the industry's enforcement program, Ms. Engebretsen said. The latest lawsuits were filed on the same day last week.
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