Legal News

Record companies really got a hold on USC, but ain't nothing like the Real thing

By Richard Binder

Representatives of Motown Records, Universal Music Group and BMG are seeking settlement amounts ranging from $4,000 to $4,500 from USC undergraduates in exchange for not being named in a copyright infringement lawsuit currently pending in federal court in Los Angeles. No individual defendants have yet been identified by name in the case, which was filed last July against anonymous "John Doe" defendants for illegal music filesharing.

USC is the latest Southern California university ordered to turn over student names and contact information for the purposes of preventing music piracy. Previously, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Davis and Loyola Marymount have been ordered to provide names of students in similar cases.

However, unlike the judges in the other cases, Judge Manuel L. Real ordered that the plaintiffs in the USC case can only use the information for non-monetary relief.

See link for more, including copy of the Real order.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on December 16, 2008 (boomark / email).