Recording industry sues 532 it says were swapping music online

Wednesday, March 24th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The recording industry has sued 532 people, including many using computer networks at 21 universities, claiming they illegally shared digital music files over the Internet.

The latest wave of copyright lawsuits brought by the Recording Industry Association of America marks the first time the trade group has targeted computer users swapping music files over university networks.

The RIAA filed the ``John Doe'' complaints Tuesday against 89 individuals using networks at universities in 10 states. Lawsuits were also filed against 443 people using commercial Internet access providers in five states.

The recording group did not name which Internet access providers the defendants were using.

With the ``John Doe'' lawsuits, the recording industry must work through the courts to find out the identities of the defendants, which at the outset are identified only by the numeric Internet protocol addresses assigned to computers online.

The defendants, which the trade group claims offered ``substantial amounts'' of music files, face potential civil penalties or settlements that could cost them thousands of dollars. Settlements in previous cases have averaged $3,000 each.

``We are sending a clear message that downloading or 'sharing' music from a peer-to-peer network without authorization is illegal, it can have consequences and it undermines the creative future of music itself,'' RIAA president Cary Sherman said.

Including Tuesday's filings, the recording industry has sued 1,977 people since launching its legal assault against online music piracy last fall, and has reached out-of-court settlements in around 400 of the cases.

To date, roughly 400 defendants have settled, an RIAA spokesman said.

The recording industry blames lagging music sales in recent years on the rise of online music piracy.