Law Students Provide Counseling to Individuals Targeted by Recording Industry
Feb. 21, 2008 -- The U.S. recording industry sends hundreds of letters each month to college students across the country accusing them of illegally downloading music from the Internet. The letters offer a simple option: settle for $3,000 or $4,000 or be sued for hundreds of thousands.
Professor Robert Talbot and students in the Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Project are providing research, writing, and counseling assistance in cases involving the Recording Industry Association of America's letters to college students concerning music piracy.
While many--if not most--of the students targeted by the Recording Industry Association of America's "pre-litigation settlement letters" may have in fact illegally downloaded music, not all are guilty. But frightened by the threatening letters and lacking the resources to obtain legal advice, most students opt to hand over their credit cards and settle.
A new undertaking by the Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Project at the USF School of Law aims to provide college students with the legal counseling they need to make an informed decision on how to respond to the RIAA letters. Law students in the class, led by Professor Robert Talbot, are available to counsel students accused of music piracy. They are also researching complex legal issues for attorneys including Ray Beckerman, a key player who represents individuals targeted by the RIAA.
"The RIAA is using heavy-handed tactics that some of the law students feel border on extortion," Talbot said. "The cases involve complex legal and technical issues. We can review a students' case, explain their rights, and determine whether they have a good defense or not."
There are many scenarios that can lead the RIAA to target the wrong person, said Jonathan Jaffe, a law student who also works in the technology industry.
"Many may not be guilty," Jaffe said. "Their roommates could be using their computer, or they could be connecting over a wireless network where it is hard to determine which user is downloading the files. The RIAA tactics seem like a racket."
In addition, a student could have made a simple mistake, it could be sabotage, or the RIAA could simply have the wrong person, Talbot said.
The class is currently assisting Beckerman on the case of a 60-year-old Haitian woman who speaks broken English, works six days a week for $8.50 an hour, and has never used a computer who is defending herself against charges that she is an "online media distributor."
"There are a great number of important legal issues of first impression being decided in these cases, the resolution of which will have enormous implications for the Internet, for our society," Beckerman said. "The opportunity for the law students to be a part of real world cases of first impression, working side-by-side with experienced practitioners motivated by principle rather than by money, on behalf of real life, suffering clients, is a priceless asset for the law school."
The Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Clinic was established by the USF School of Law to provide legal services to individuals who need assistance with a variety of intellectual property matters. The clinic is a partner of the Electric Frontier Foundation (EFF), assisting in domain name disputes. The Project is also a partner in "Chilling Effects," a joint project of the EFF and law school clinics at Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, and Maine. Chilling effects helps the public understand the protections that the First Amendment and intellectual property laws provide for online activities.
For information on the USF School of Law's Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Clinic, call (415) 422-6752 or email clinic@internetjustice.org.
