Fifteen more Ohio University network users are facing John Doe lawsuits today after failing to settle file-sharing lawsuits in April.
This brings the total number of network users at the university facing John Doe lawsuits to 25. After the first round of recording industry letters threatening legal action arrived at the university in March, ten students decided not to settle and were named in a John Doe lawsuit filed April 13.
The recording industry began its crackdown on students using college networks to share music in February, when it announced it had sent more copyright complaint notices to OU than any other college in the country. A week later, it sent out another news release saying 50 OU students would face copyright infringement lawsuits unless they settled. In April, 50 more OU students were left to consider a similar decision. To date, no other school has received more pre-litigation settlement letters than OU.
Students asked to settle must commit to a $3,000 payment within 20 days of the letter's mailing. Receipt of the letters takes additional time because the university must match the Internet provider address named in the letter to a network user using network activity logs.
The university has offered information sessions to students who receive pre-litigation letters, but can't offer legal assistance. Local attorney Joseph Hazelbaker has offered to defend students facing lawsuits and the Center for Student Legal Services, while it cannot represent students facing the lawsuits because they are filed in federal court, will consult with students.
In response to the workload that copyright complaints and pre-litigation letters bring ' estimated late last month at a week of full-time work for three people ' chief information officer Brice Bible decided the university would ban peer-to-peer programs commonly used to share copyrighted media.
Copyright complaint notices, once arriving at a rate of five to 10 a day, have slowed to almost zero, Bible said, adding that peer-to-peer traffic is well contained.
I would be surprised if we received any or a significant number (of pre-litigation letters) after the initial blocking was instituted
Bible said, but added he couldn't say for sure what the recording industry would do. 17
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Dave Hendricks
