Recording Industry Intends to Sue Campus Members
To: All University of Utah Campus Members
From: The University of Utah Compliance Office
Subject: Recording Industry Intends to Sue Campus Members
Date: May 22, 2008
The music recording industry (RIAA) has recently notified the University of their intent to initiate lawsuits against individuals who they claim have illegally shared copyrighted music.
Attorneys for the RIAA have sent 12 "notification(s) of copyright infringement claims" to the University requesting that we forward the notification to the alleged infringer. The letter describes the record companies' detailed claims against the person and offers an “early” settlement of those claims for a “substantially reduced dollar amount." The University’s Office of General Counsel has recommended that the University forward the claims to the alleged infringer, not as an agent for the RIAA, but as a courtesy to the student or employee. The University may receive a subpoena or court order if the correspondence is not forwarded or if the alleged infringer does not respond to the notification. The Office of General Counsel has clearly stated that no information about any campus member will be shared unless a legally valid subpoena or court order is received.
If the campus member contacts the RIAA attorneys, they will be given an opportunity to settle out of court. If the RIAA does not hear back from the campus member in a “short” period of time, they claim they will go ahead and file suit. Except for responding to a valid subpoena or court order, the University of Utah has no part in the litigation. The RIAA is initiating action against the campus member as an individual.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the RIAA has won one such case. The defendant was ordered to pay $222,000. However, that case may be tried again and could be overturned. Other industry agencies have not won major cases in court as of this time.
For more information on Peer to Peer file sharing and the University's position, see the Compliance Office’s Peer to Peer webpage: http://www.compliance.utah.edu/infosec/peer2peer.html .
For answers to common questions regarding these legal actions please visit https://www.p2plawsuits.com/ .
Thank you,
Chris Kidd
Chief Information Security and Privacy Officer
Compliance Office
The University of Utah
www.compliance.utah.edu
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Distribution of this message was approved by Stephen Hess, CIO, University of Utah
101 Wasatch Drive, Eccles Broadcast Center, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
