After the University released the names of 17 students to the Recording Industry Association of America, a court document filed on Oct. 27 shows the organization has dismissed the John Doe lawsuit, moving the lawsuit on to the next phase in its litigation process.
The students’ names are associated with 17 Internet protocol addresses the RIAA obtained for illegal downloading and file sharing from the University’s dorms, wireless network and other locations. Because the RIAA was unaware of the names of the students who were assigned to the IP addresses, the organization had to file the “John Doe” lawsuit, a lawsuit that doesn’t name any defendants, as a placeholder until the University released the names, RIAA spokesperson Liz Kennedy said.
The University was forced to release the names of the students and their personal information because of a court-ordered subpoena approved by U.S. District Court Judge Michael R. Hogan in September. In compliance with the subpoena, the University had to release the names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses to the record companies’ attorneys.
Kennedy said the dismissal is a standard move in the litigation process. She said now that the RIAA has received the names of the students, it is likely it will begin contacting the students to arrange possible settlement options.
Kennedy said in an e-mail that the individuals who do not choose to settle with the record companies will have named lawsuits filed against them. Also in the e-mail she said the timeline of events in the litigation process varies, and that because the RIAA just received the student information last week, it hasn’t yet contacted them.
“Most importantly, the opportunity to settle always exists yet, the earlier an individual settles in the process, the better the proposed settlement,” she said in the e-mail. “The later someone settles – for example, after we have filed a ‘Doe’ suit or the next step, against the individual as a named defendant – the settlement offers incrementally increase.”
As part of its program targeting illegal file sharing on college campuses, the RIAA sends pre-litigation letters to universities so students can have the opportunity to settle before a suit is filed, Kennedy said. Doing so, she said, can save students large amounts of money in settlement or court costs, and also makes it possible for the students to keep the copyright infringement offense off their legal record.
Because of the benefits of settling early, she said it is imperative that universities forward the pre-litigation settlement letters to the students.
Michael Ratoza, an IP lawyer at Bullivant Houser Bailey law firm and an adjunct law professor at the University, said such settlement options also come with costs. He said students and other individuals being sued by the record companies can feel trapped into settling, even if they are not guilty of the infringement charges.
“Individuals are almost compelled to settle because it costs too much money and takes too much time for them to defend themselves,” Ratoza said. “They begin to experience a feeling of helplessness.”
Ratoza added that proving someone engaged in the infringement can be a difficult process when more than one student lives in a dorm room.
“These plaintiffs will need to determine if the students named on the list are liable for the actual infringement,” he said. “An individual must engage in the infringement to be charged; just being a tenant does not make a person liable.”
Kennedy said out of about 30,000 John Doe suits filed by the RIAA, excluding the university cases, one case has made it to trial. Kennedy said this means individuals are settling with the record companies and avoiding the hassles of legal processes.
Ratoza, however, said if individuals keep settling, it is impossible to check and make sure the record companies are making valid claims.
“Part of the problem with big-time, nationwide investigations is that things might not be as thoroughly reviewed as they should be,” he said.
If the cases were to go to trial, the RIAA’s litigation process could be more closely examined, he said.
But with high court costs and attorney fees, Ratoza said most people – even if they are innocent – don’t want to risk taking the case to trial and losing.
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