The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues
Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues

Recording industry threatens to sue over illegal file sharing

By Michael McFall

The recording industry association is threatening to file lawsuits against 12 individuals — possibly students or employees — who have allegedly taken part in copyright infringement by illegally sharing music files using the U’s Internet service.

Attorneys from the Recording Industry Association of America sent an e-mail to the U’s Office of Information Technology on May 16 requesting that it forward notifications of the copyright infringement claims to the 12 alleged infringers. The notifications describe the industry’s claims against the alleged infringers and offer a settlement of about $3,000 outside of court. If the alleged infringers are taken to court and found guilty, they could face a fine of approximately $75,000 per shared file.

An e-mail sent to students and staff from the U’s Office of General Counsel states that no information about any campus member will be shared until a legally valid subpoena or court order is received. The U will forward the industry’s notification to the alleged infringers as a courtesy to the students or employees and not as an agent of the industry, according to the e-mail.

The U could receive a subpoena or court order requesting contact information of the alleged infringers if notifications are not forwarded, or if the alleged infringers do not respond to the notifications.

There is a good chance the RIAA will send a valid subpoena requesting contact information about the alleged infringers, said Kevin Taylor, director of planning and policy for the U’s Office of Information Technology.

“If they can’t send us a subpoena that can hold up in court, we won’t give them information on someone,” Taylor said.

The Office of Information Technology receives copyright infringement notices on a daily basis, but Taylor said these are the first attempting to subpoena the university.

“It’s been happening around the country?I think they’re adjusting their approach to get more attention, it’s what this is all about,” he said.

The number of copyright complaints the office has received in the last two months has increased significantly because the industry wants to show that they’re serious about the issue, he said.

[email protected]

Leave a Comment

Comments (0)

The Daily Utah Chronicle welcomes comments from our community. However, the Daily Utah Chronicle reserves the right to accept or deny user comments. A comment may be denied or removed if any of its content meets one or more of the following criteria: obscenity, profanity, racism, sexism, or hateful content; threats or encouragement of violent or illegal behavior; excessively long, off-topic or repetitive content; the use of threatening language or personal attacks against Chronicle members; posts violating copyright or trademark law; and advertisement or promotion of products, services, entities or individuals. Users who habitually post comments that must be removed may be blocked from commenting. In the case of duplicate or near-identical comments by the same user, only the first submission will be accepted. This includes comments posted across multiple articles. You can read more about our comment policy at https://dailyutahchronicle.com/comment-faqs/.
All The Daily Utah Chronicle Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *