An Ohio University student facing a lawsuit from the recording industry has retained a local attorney who is urging the university to fight subpoenas for students' personal information.
Joseph Hazelbaker, an Athens attorney, is representing one of the 10 students identified by their Internet provider addresses in an April 13 federal court filing. The student, whom Hazelbaker would not name, did not pay $3,000 to settle the file-sharing lawsuit in March.
Hazelbaker sent a letter to the university Wednesday claiming that the RIAA is using improper legal tactics and that the university should not respond to anything but a lawfully issued subpoena.
The RIAA's lawsuit should be dismissed, Hazelbaker said, because grouping the 10 unassociated file-sharers, identified only by their IP addresses, together in its court filing isn't standard legal procedure. Hazelbaker said that the recording industry should file individual subpoenas.
The (recording industry complaint) is insufficient because it simply represents a dorm room
Hazelbaker said, adding that there is no way of knowing which student or if any student living in a dorm room and sharing an IP address was responsible for the alleged file-sharing.
Barbara Nalazek, associate director of the university's Office of Legal Affairs, would not comment on the letter. Lloyd Pierre-Louis of Pierre-Louis and Associates of Columbus, who is representing record companies in their lawsuits with 10 OU students, did not return calls for comment.
RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy, a 1995 E.W. Scripps School of Journalism graduate, could not comment on the specifics of the university's litigation with the recording industry. As an alumnus, he said, he is torn by the attention OU has garnered from the RIAA's anti-piracy efforts.
I am a proud alumnus and it has been painful to see my alma mater be in the national spotlight that it is and has been Lamy said. There are far too many students (at Ohio University) that are getting their music illegally.
By blocking illegal peer-to-peer file-sharing on its network, educating students who receive the letters and allowing legal file sharing, Lamy said the university has really stepped up.
17
Archives
Dave Hendricks
