Over the past eight years the Recording Industry Association of America has sent lawyers at the University of Wisconsin?Madison (UWM) more than 2,000 notices of copyright infringement triggered by illegal file sharing on the school’s computer servers. As required by the Digital Copyright Millennium Act (DMCA), the school used its list matching randomly assigned IP addresses to the downloading computer to track down the student, and to pass on the takedown notice and its threat of legal action.
But a letter to the university in February 2007 was different. Signed by RIAA general counsel Steven Marks, it described a new program offering alleged infringers a “presuit settlement opportunity.” Under the program, students would get the chance to settle claims “at a discounted rate” before a lawsuit is filed. But unlike the earlier letters, the school had no legal obligation to pass on the settlement letter. In fact, it was free to toss the letters in the trash.
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