Verizon Win Won't Stop Suits

The Recording Industry Assn. of America says that an appeals court decision has made it harder for copyright infringers to settle out of court.

In a Dec. 19 ruling, the court found that the trade group has no authority to compel Internet service providers to reveal the identities of subscribers who use peer-to-peer file-sharing services.

The trade group vows to continue with its lawsuits against consumers who infringe copyrights.

The decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sides with Verizon, which had challenged a January 2003 district court ruling in favor of the RIAA.

The trade group has been serving Verizon and other ISPs with subpoenas seeking the identities of subscribers it suspects of infringing copyrights. More than 382 individuals have been sued by the RIAA for copyright infringement.

"This is a disappointing procedural decision, but it only changes the process by which we will file lawsuits against online infringers," RIAA president Cary Sherman said in a statement.

"It unfortunately means we can no longer notify illegal file sharers before we file lawsuits against them to offer the opportunity to settle outside of litigation," he said. "Verizon is solely responsible for a legal process that will now be less sensitive to the interests of its subscribers who engage in illegal activity."

The RIAA says it will now have to file "John Doe" lawsuits based on e-mail addresses of suspected infringers, a much slower process that requires significant judicial oversight.

While the court said it sympathized with the music industry's plight, it ruled that the RIAA's argument that ISPs are liable as "mere conduits" to disclose the identities of its subscribers "borders upon the silly."

The ruling also said that the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, upon which the RIAA had based its argument, does not explore the thorny issue of file sharing, which at the time was not popular.

The court said that only the legislature can fix "the loophole in Congress' effort to prevent copyright infringement on the Internet."

Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., a pro-Internet champion, applauded the ruling. "Today's federal appeals court decision is a victory for the privacy rights of Internet users," he said in a statement.

"I encourage the recording industry to direct its efforts toward the establishment of lawful Web sites, which contain the complete inventories of its member companies," he said. Making copyrighted content widely available "for a reasonable price in a user-friendly format" will see sales "dramatically expand."