Officials for several of the universities involved, including George Washington University, Loyola Marymount University, University of Southern California and Stanford University had no immediate comment.
Several commercial online music services like Napster, the once-renegade song-swap service relaunched as a legal business by parent company Roxio Inc. in October 2003, are increasingly marketing themselves to colleges and universities.
The universities, in turn, are embracing the commercial services as a way to lessen legal risks for students and stress on their own networks caused by illegal music-swapping.
The RIAA said the first round of “John Doe” suits filed in January was proceeding, with all four federal courts granting the music industry’s request to issue subpoenas to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to learn the identities of illegal file sharers.
An RIAA spokeswoman said two individuals from that round of suits have already settled with the RIAA.
For the second round of “John Doe” suits brought in February, courts in Georgia and New Jersey have approved the RIAA’s motion to begin issuing subpoenas, while a Florida court has requested additional briefing and a Philadelphia court ordered the RIAA to file individual complaints for each illegal file sharer, rather than bundling them.
The RIAA said it has asked the Philadelphia court to reconsider that decision.
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