Ohio University Students Take Action in RIAA Lawsuits

This past April, a third wave of pre-litagation letters were sent to Ohio University students. Students had the option of settling out of court with a $3000 payment or foregoing the payment and facing the possibility of settling in federal court. Now 15 more OU students join the list of John Doe lawsuits, bringing the total to 25. These 25 lawsuits will be decided in court.
Athens MidDay reporter Shane Kline takes a closer look at the university's response to the lawsuits.



But Ohio University is not the only school facing this problem. A list of the 22 universities and colleges that received the third wave of letters can be found on the RIAA website.

The Top 5 from the third wave are:

#1. Ohio University (50)
#2. University of Massachusetts-Amherst (32)
#3. Indiana University (28)
#4. University of Maryland System (25)
#5. Central Michigan University (24)

A group of OU Telecommunication students voice their opinions of the RIAA in a satirical parody: The RIAA:The Truth. The students produced the video in four days and published it on YouTube. The video makes fun of how the situation was handled.

But there is some good news. Bill Bible, Ohio University's chief information officer, says copyright complaint notices have decreased from five to 10 a day to almost zero now.