Since we reported on the RIAA sending out 204 warning letters to individuals warning that they will be sued if they do not settle, 124 of those have decided to resolve this issue through settlements without going to court. The RIAA have now filed 80 lawsuits against the remaining individuals who failed to respond to their letter.
The RIAA are pleased with their efforts and are seeing a significant drop in the levels of file-swapping usage. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, the weekly usage of Kazaa in theUS has dropped from 7 million users in early June to only 3.2 million users near the end of October. This is a massive 55% drop in usage. A total of 156 people have agreed to settle the lawsuits which may include those who were issued warning letters and a further 1,000 users have sent in applications for amnesty from lawsuits under its "Clean Slate" program. As already reported, the RIAA are going to continue issuing lawsuits against illegal music-swappers but this time on a weekly basis.
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The action marks a second round of suits against computer users who, record label investigators say, have made hundreds or even thousands of copyrighted songs available for download through peer-to-peer services such as Kazaa. The first round, filed in early September, targeted 261 individuals accused of putting "egregious" amounts of music online. That first wave of suits helped dramatically raise awareness of the legal risks of file swapping, but also drew considerable criticism from lawmakers and consumer groups who said the RIAA risked violating individuals' rights or had sued the wrong people. In response, the group agreed to notify the potential targets of its lawsuits before filing. It subsequently sent warning letters to 204 people early in October, saying they had been identified as likely targets of a new round of suits. On Thursday, the group said that 124 of those people decided to try to resolve the issue without going to court. "We are pleased that our efforts to extend illegal file sharers an additional chance to come clean and work out settlements are proving successful," RIAA President Cary Sherman said in a statement. "The fact that the overwhelming majority of those who received the notification letter contacted us and were eager to resolve the claims is another clear signal that the music community's education and enforcement campaign is getting the message out." There is some evidence that the controversial RIAA lawsuits against ordinary computer users are making a dent in the file-swapping world. According to Web analysis firm Nielsen/NetRatings, weekly usage of the Kazaa software in the United States plummeted from a high of 7 million people in early June to just 3.2 million people in late October. Read the full article here. |
The RIAA are really making Kazaa look as bad as physical robbery as well as carrying illegal weapons and drugs. It will be interesting to see where those 3.8 million users who left Kazaa have gone off to. Just because they are not using Kazaa does not mean that they are out to buy CDs instead. The RIAA probably don't realise that there are many other ways of obtaining music without buying or downloading it such as copying CDs from friends and even taping off the radio. This is how they done it in the past and there is little stopping them doing that again now.
If the music sales do not improve or continue to decline, well at least piracy should not be the blame this time. I'm fairly certain that over-priced CDs, poor quality music and even pirate CD sales each have much more of an effect on CD sales than just file sharing.
Source: CNET News
