The FBI is coming to the local record store. The music industry has won
permission to include the agency’s logo in CD packaging as a warning against
unauthorized copying, sources said.
Record labels want to use the logo the way it is used by movie studios, which
include an on-screen warning on home videos and DVDs. The deal, hammered out by
the Recording Industry Assn. of America and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III,
comes as record labels try to dissuade Internet users from sharing copyrighted
music online.
The labels have filed hundreds of lawsuits against people who allegedly
shared music illegally. How the logo will be displayed is up to individual
labels, sources said. Many discussed placement of the logo — and a warning about
possible criminal prosecution for illegal copying — on the back of the disc
packaging.
Label executives also have discussed including software that displays the
warning when a CD is put into a computer. The RIAA declined to comment. An FBI
representative couldn’t be reached.
