The hits just keep on coming against online music swappers – the Recording Industry Association of America sued 531 more people Feb. 17 in four federal courts around the eastern United States, making it an even 1,000 such suits just for the new year, following 532 such suits in January.
The RIAA filed the suits in federal courts in Atlanta, Orlando (Florida), Philadelphia, and Trenton (New Jersey), according to The Washington Post.
"Legal online music services are delivering a high-quality, consumer-friendly experience, and they're attracting new fans," said RIAA president Cary Sherman in a statement. "But they shouldn't have to compete with businesses based on illegal downloading. That's why we are sending a clear message that downloading or 'sharing' music from a peer-to-peer network without authorization is illegal, it can have consequences and it undermines the creative future of music itself."
The RIAA in has sued over twice as many the first month-and-a half of 2004 as they did in the final four months of 2003, when they began their subpoena-and-sue campaign against peer-to-peer Internet music trading. They settled with over 200 more such suspects out of court. The trade group believes such online swapping takes a big enough piece out of music sales that compact disc sales dropped from almost a billion in 2000 to $803 million in 2002.
Electric Frontier Foundation legal director Cindy Cohn told the Post the RIAA campaign is aimed at sending a message: suing the customer is here to stay. ""I really question," she told the paper, "whether this has anything to do with real relief for the record companies other than just a public relations hit."
