The Recording Industry Association of America said Thursday it filed a new federal copyright infringement lawsuit this week against one UW-Madison network user, following months of legal processes.
The RIAA - o - oa trade group that represents the United States recording industry - o - osent pre-litigation letters to UW-Madison in mid-March, asking the university to forward the letters to the correct users who had been illegally file-sharing content on the university's network.
We do this because at the time of capture we only have [an Internet Protocol] address - o - owhich is unique to each computer,"" Cara Duckworth, a RIAA spokesperson, said of the process.
Duckworth said the RIAA also has a sample of the files shared and a time stamp of the illegal activity - o - owhich is enough information for schools to determine the appropriate users.
However, UW-Madison originally refused to turn over the names attached to each IP address in question.
RIAA fired back, sending a second wave of settlement letters in March.
According to Duckworth, UW-Madison received 16 letters during this wave of letters.
""In this letter we offer [the individual] a certain amount of time to contact us to discuss the matter and a discounted settlement rate,"" Duckworth said.
""If we do not hear from them, we then move to file a 'John Doe' lawsuit in federal court - o - oJohn Doe lawsuit because we still do not have that individual's name.""
This was the case with the UW System, when an April decision by a U.S. district court judge ordered the universities release the names of the individuals.
Through a subpoena of the UW System, the RIAA received the identities of illegal file sharers and was able to directly contact them - o - otaking the case out of the universities' hands.
""If we still do not hear from [the students] in that amount of time, then we move forward and file a federal lawsuit in their name, which is what this is,"" she said. ""This is kind of a three stage process - o - othis would be the third stage.""
All but one of the UW-Madison individuals who received letters in March settled, forcing the RIAA to launch this most recent lawsuit. The RIAA filed lawsuits at 15 other universities across the nation, including UW-Milwaukee and UW-Stevens Point.
""These individuals chose to ignore previous settlement offers, and we had to move forward in the legal process,"" Duckworth said.
Usually, pre-litigation letters include settlement offers of $3,000, with the second wave increasing to about $4,000 and the last stage ranging up to $5,000 or higher.
According to Duckworth, the RIAA's settlement offers are considered a discount because copyright law allows for $750 to be recoupedper infringement.
""College students are some of the music industry's best fans,"" she said, ""We engage in this initiative to raise awareness to the law and the consequences of breaking it, while putting forth good legal options that students can take advantage of in order to avoid lawsuits.
""We don't think that there's going to be a silver bullet solving piracy - o - othere is no way of solving piracy - o - obut our goal is to contain the problem.
