Under heavy public pressure, the music industry has begun asking suspected peer-to-peer online song swappers to settle infringement charges before taking them to court.
"In light of the comments we have heard," said Recording Industry Association of America president Cary Sherman in a formal statement, "we want to go the extra mile and offer illegal file sharers an additional chance to work this out short of legal action."
The Recording Industry Association of America said October 17 that it contacted 204 suspected file-swap infringers during the week with settlement offers, a shift in approach following a controversial campaign of subpoenas and lawsuits that got the group hammered in controversy, according to Reuters.
The RIAA said that it would stay with the warning-and-settlement letters first, giving those they contact a chance to negotiate settlements or show they committed no infringement, within ten days before facing litigation.
Reuters said the RIAA has settled with 64 file swappers to date, and most for less than $5,000. But even those who supported their bid to bring the heaviest song swappers to account have pressed the group to send warnings far earlier in the process and give their targets a fair chance to respond.
"If all they're doing is moving up the inevitable by a couple of days and say, 'By the way we're going to sue you,' that's not satisfactory," said Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn to Reuters.
