Six of the 17 Penn students who were sent pre-litigation letters from the Recording Industry Association of America in April are still in hot water.
The RIAA has decided to proceed with plans to sue those six students, who have not yet settled with the organization in face of allegations of illegal music downloading, RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth said.
The other eleven students chose to settle at a "discounted rate," though Duckworth would not provide details about the settlements.
University Information Security Officer David Millar said the University has thus far cooperated with the RIAA by forwarding the pre-litigation letters and John Doe lawsuits, but he said Penn will not provide any names unless subpoenaed.
If those six students do not respond to the lawsuit within the time frame stipulated, Duckworth said the RIAA does plan to subpoena the University for their names while giving the students a final chance to contact the organization.
Failure to do so will result in the filing of federal lawsuit against infringers, she said.
The minimum statutory damages for each copyrighted recording is $750.
Millar said all of the students who have allegedly infringed have also been referred to the Office of Student Conduct for disciplinary action.
The OSC does not comment on any ongoing cases.
The lawsuits are part of the RIAA's recent widespread campaign against illegal downloading on college campuses. The organization has sent almost 3,000 letters to college students nationwide, with its last wave of letters coming in August.
Ray Beckerman, an attorney who has defended several clients accused by the RIAA of infringement, encouraged students not to settle.
"Everyone who settles with them is adding fuel to the fire," he said. "What I am advocating students to do is pool their resources and hire a lawyer."
Beckerman went on to say that the RIAA's claims are often "bogus" since they often target the owner of the account instead of the people pirating music and because the shared files on the p2p network are not all stored on one computer.
Electronic Frontier Foundation spokeswoman Rebecca Jeschke wouldn't go as far as to call the RIAA a "colluding cartel," as Beckerman has, but she said she hopes the organization will stop resorting to lawsuits to stop illegal downloading.
"I certainly think that if the RIAA was truly interested in getting artists paid for their work, they would start thinking about other creative ways such as licensing agreements instead of lawsuits," she said.
