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American Morning
Minding Your Business: File Sharers Beware, You Could be Sued
Aired July 21, 2003 - 07:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Andy Serwer is here this morning for us. For major downloaders of music over the Internet, it might be time to face the music?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's right. A couple of weeks ago, Soledad, we told you that an appeals court said that Internet service providers had to tell the names of people downloading music to these record companies. And guess what? The Recording Industry Association of America, otherwise known as RIAA, their lawyers have been busy little bees. They've been issuing subpoenas -- 871 of them apparently over the past two weeks. That's about 75 subpoenas every day -- college students, people sitting at home file- sharing, downloading. And guess what? The next step is suing them. The fines could be coming next -- $750 to $150,000 per tune, if you can imagine.
O'BRIEN: Wow! How much money are they, one, spending on all of this?
SERWER: You know...
O'BRIEN: Because if lawyers, you know...
SERWER: Right.
O'BRIEN: ... sue every single person out there who has been downloading music, it's going to be a big, big project.
SERWER: That was the first question I asked. There is no answer on that. But you're absolutely right. I mean, I guess these record companies and the RIAA -- the Incarceration Association of America, is that what you said? I like that. These people think it's the cost of doing business, and it's a huge controversy because you're suing your customers. And, you know, we've got to see how this is going to play out. But there is going to be some great cases. And you're going to see this guy, you know, "Joe Dorm Room Dude" is going to go to court against these evil record companies, and it's going to be great theater going down the road.
O'BRIEN: And I guess all they have to do is really do a couple of successful lawsuits against some regular, you know, dorm room kid...
SERWER: Right.
O'BRIEN: ... and then they've sort of sent the message they're looking ot send, I would imagine. SERWER: It will have a chilling affect, as they say in the legal profession, right?
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy Serwer, thank you, as always.
SERWER: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Sued>
Aired July 21, 2003 - 07:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Andy Serwer is here this morning for us. For major downloaders of music over the Internet, it might be time to face the music?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's right. A couple of weeks ago, Soledad, we told you that an appeals court said that Internet service providers had to tell the names of people downloading music to these record companies. And guess what? The Recording Industry Association of America, otherwise known as RIAA, their lawyers have been busy little bees. They've been issuing subpoenas -- 871 of them apparently over the past two weeks. That's about 75 subpoenas every day -- college students, people sitting at home file- sharing, downloading. And guess what? The next step is suing them. The fines could be coming next -- $750 to $150,000 per tune, if you can imagine.
O'BRIEN: Wow! How much money are they, one, spending on all of this?
SERWER: You know...
O'BRIEN: Because if lawyers, you know...
SERWER: Right.
O'BRIEN: ... sue every single person out there who has been downloading music, it's going to be a big, big project.
SERWER: That was the first question I asked. There is no answer on that. But you're absolutely right. I mean, I guess these record companies and the RIAA -- the Incarceration Association of America, is that what you said? I like that. These people think it's the cost of doing business, and it's a huge controversy because you're suing your customers. And, you know, we've got to see how this is going to play out. But there is going to be some great cases. And you're going to see this guy, you know, "Joe Dorm Room Dude" is going to go to court against these evil record companies, and it's going to be great theater going down the road.
O'BRIEN: And I guess all they have to do is really do a couple of successful lawsuits against some regular, you know, dorm room kid...
SERWER: Right.
O'BRIEN: ... and then they've sort of sent the message they're looking ot send, I would imagine. SERWER: It will have a chilling affect, as they say in the legal profession, right?
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy Serwer, thank you, as always.
SERWER: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Sued>
