RIAA sues 531 more file-sharers

NEW YORK (RIAA) - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) targeted 531 more alleged music file swappers in legal actions Tuesday, bringing the total sued for copyright infringement over peer-to-peer (P2) networks since January to more than a thousand.

Like the 532 RIAA lawsuits brought in January, the suits employ the "John Doe" process, which is used to sue defendants whose names aren't known. The lawsuits identify the defendants only by their Internet protocol computer address.
Once a John Doe suit has been filed and approved by a judge, the RIAA can subpoena the information needed to identify the defendant by name from an Internet service provider (ISP).
Tuesday's RIAA legal blitz involved five lawsuits naming 531 John Doe alleged infringers. The suits were filed in Philadelphia (the home of Comcast), Atlanta (EarthLink), Orlando, Fla., and Trenton, N.J.

The lawsuits filed Tuesday bring the total number of legal actions to 1,145 since the RIAA launched its legal campaign against individual file-swappers in September. Sherman said 233 of the lawsuits have been resolved with an average settlement of approximately $3,000.