More lawsuits filed against downloaders
Music group files 80 new cases
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Virginia Military Institute cadets work at a computer lab inside their barracks. The school has added illegal downloading of digital files as a violation of its honor code.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The recording industry filed 80 more federal lawsuits around the country Thursday against computer users it said were illegally sharing music files across the Internet.
Those 80 people were among 204 who had been threatened with lawsuits earlier this month by the Washington-based Recording Industry Association of America unless they contacted the trade association to discuss a financial settlement.
The RIAA said the remaining 124 people had approached music industry lawyers about settling the claims.
The group previously filed lawsuits against 261 others. It said Thursday it has reached settlements with 156 people, who defense lawyers have said agreed to pay penalties ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 each.
Such settlements, which do not include any admission of wrongdoing, require Internet users to destroy copies of illegally downloaded songs and agree to "not make any public statements that are inconsistent" with the agreement.
Still, with tens of millions of Internet users in the United States using file-sharing software to trade songs, odds remain exceedingly long that a particular computer user will be sued by the music industry.
"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," RIAA President Cary Sherman said.
The RIAA has promised that hundreds or even thousands more lawsuits will be filed and has continued issuing hundreds of copyright subpoenas to compel Internet providers to identify subscribers suspected of illegally distributing music online.
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