Recording industry takes aim at workplace

After flogging Napster in the courtroom, the Recording Industry Association of America has broadened its anti-piracy music campaign into workplaces across the country.

The Washington, D.C.-based RIAA's members create, manufacture or distribute about 90 percent of all recordings sold in the United

"There were almost 300 companies who got that letter who have employees infringing on their networks," RIAA spokeswoman Amanda Collins said. "We strongly encourage those companies to take prompt action."

The RIAA can track music file downloads through Internet Protocol addresses assigned to company networks. The association can determine what addresses have been used to log onto the online peer-to-peer FastTrack network hosting the free music file-swapping sites of KaZaa, Grokster and iMesh.

In the letter, the RIAA told the companies their computer networks were being used to illegally distribute copyrighted music on the Internet, an offense in which copyright owners can collect up to $150,000 per work infringed upon. To let the companies know the RIAA is serious, it sent sample user logs showing lists of music files downloaded by employees through their computer networks. The organization also attached a CD-ROM containing entire logs of files offered by employees.

The latest letters serve as a follow-up to policy guides sent to corporations in November highlighting the dangers of permitting music downloads. The RIAA said downloads may lead to network security risks, importation of viruses, increased bandwidth costs, slowed Internet connections and reduced work productivity.

"We strongly urge you to take immediate steps to prevent the continued infringement of our members' sound recordings on your corporate network. We trust that you will understand the urgency of this situation," the letter read.

The RIAA already has settled a lawsuit for $1 million with Tempe, Ariz.-based Integrated Information Systems, which was going beyond simply letting workers use its Internet lines to download music. The high-tech firm operated a server allowing its employees to access and distribute thousands of music files over the company network.

The origins of music file-swapping can be traced to Napster, which debuted in 1999. The system was the brainchild of a Northeastern University freshman who figured out how to link music collections around the globe via the Internet.

With the backing of one of its most vocal members, the heavy-metal band Metallica, the RIAA sued Napster and had the site shut down in 2001.

Napster did not house the recordings. But record companies contended the service was an accomplice in the piracy of protected music, thus liable for damages.

Napster's demise did little to slow filesharing activity. Dozens of Web sites facilitate the swapping of billions of files each month. And users are downloading music, software, photos and films in addition to music.

File sharing has grown popular in many workplaces, experts say, because the majority of companies have high-speed, broadband lines that make it easier.

FastTrack's network infrastructure works slightly differently than that of Napster. FastTrack doesn't host servers that contain master lists of files contained on users' PCs, as Napster did. The Dutch company also differs because of its location outside the United States, which makes it more difficult for U.S.-based copyright holders like the RIAA's membership to stop it.

It's even more difficult to go after individuals. That's why the RIAA first targeted universities and now corporations, according to Jim Coles, chairman of Bose McKinney & Evans LLP's intellectual property practice.

"[The RIAA would have to sue every individual out there downloading music, even if you could get over the hurdle that the individual is an infringer," Coles said. "So [the RIAA is] trying to go after these bigger networks and, therefore, trying to stop it that way."

The RIAA relies on two arguments to bolster its case that the companies are promoting copyright infringement, Coles said. By providing the networks, they're contributing to the infringements. And they share vicarious liability, because they are liable for the actions of their employees.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 2000 provides protections for Internet service providers such as America Online from being liable for infringements occurring on its network. The question now has become whether a company with its own network can be considered an Internet

service provider, Coles said.

A few court decisions will need to be handed down to determine whether the organization has a valid argument, according to Justin Sage, a registered patent attorney at Krieg DeVault LLP.

I think [the companies] should continue to pay attention," Sage said. "At this point, it's certainly something to be concerned with, but not something to start worrying about."

"The RIAA is a very aggressive association," said John Maley of Barnes & Thornburg, who is representing Sanyo Laser. "CD sales are declining, so [the corporate letters are] not surprising."

The technology to download music is here to stay, so the RIAA should embrace it and establish some sort of fee service where users pay for songs, Coles said. The motion picture industry could find itself fighting the same battle, he said. That's because the technology known as MP3, in which users can store songs on their computers in compressed digital sound files, has evolved to accommodate entire motion pictures, Coles said.

"This technology won't go away," he said. "People will always invent ways to get around what the RIAA is trying to shut down."