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RIAA Tempers Tactics

By Eric R. Chad and William D. Schultz

From the days of duplicating tapes, records and compact discs through the uploading and downloading of digital music, consumers have become desensitized to the liability of copying music. Reports of college students downloading thousands of songs, teenagers using uninformed parents' computers to load pirated music onto MP3 players and the formation of companies dedicated to sharing music has caused the recording industry to fight the trend.

The recording industry estimates that music piracy has cost it billions of dollars during the past 15 years. Facing the potential for an industry-wide collapse, the Recording Industry Association of America (“RIAA”) undertook an aggressive litigation campaign, covered extensively by Internet Law & Strategy, to protect itself and its constituents from copyright infringement by suing individual file sharers. After fighting a public relations battle over some of its tactics, the RIAA has chosen to temper its aggressiveness. In December, it announced a “new approach [that] dispenses with one of the most contentious parts of the lawsuit strategy, which involved filing lawsuits requiring ISPs [Internet service providers] to disclose the identities of file sharers.” See, Sarah McBride and Ethan Smith, “Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits,” Wall St. J. online, Dec. 19, 2008. The RIAA is instead forming relationships with ISPs that maintain the online accounts of the consumers.

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