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American Morning
Minding Your Business: Music Downloaders, Beware
Aired December 04, 2003 - 07:53 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: The big question now: Can you be sued for taking music off the Internet, even if you don't own a computer? We've got the latest on the battle between downloaders and the recording industry from Carrie Lee, who is "Minding Your Business" from the Nasdaq Marketsite. She's filling in for Andy Serwer, who has got the day off.
Hey -- Carrie. Good morning.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Good morning to you, Solebad (ph) -- Soledad -- excuse me.
Well, bad press and all, the recording industry is forging ahead with more lawsuits. It is suing 41 more people, alleging they illegally downloaded music from the Internet. So, since September, the industry has sued 382 people in total. More than 200 lawsuits have been settled, most often defendants paying fines of between 1,000 and $3,000 to avoid court.
Among those sued this time around, a 79-year-old retiree from Washington state. He says he doesn't own a computer, nor does he know how to operate one. He says it's probably a billing mix-up with his son-in-law. But it just kind of shows you that the recording industry is going after some people, and might not always be an airtight solution to doing so -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: The lists of the artists that he was accused of downloading include Vanilla Ice, U2, Creed, Lincoln Park and Guns N' Roses.
LEE: That's right. So, maybe he likes that kind of music...
O'BRIEN: Interesting taste for a 79-year-old.
LEE: ... but it doesn't seem all that viable. But the recording industry is, of course, blaming illegal downloads for the 31 percent decline in music sales over the last three years. So, they're trying to do what they can to combat the problem.
O'BRIEN: All right, Carrie Lee for us this morning. Thanks, Carrie. We'll check in with you a little bit later this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 4, 2003 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The big question now: Can you be sued for taking music off the Internet, even if you don't own a computer? We've got the latest on the battle between downloaders and the recording industry from Carrie Lee, who is "Minding Your Business" from the Nasdaq Marketsite. She's filling in for Andy Serwer, who has got the day off.
Hey -- Carrie. Good morning.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Good morning to you, Solebad (ph) -- Soledad -- excuse me.
Well, bad press and all, the recording industry is forging ahead with more lawsuits. It is suing 41 more people, alleging they illegally downloaded music from the Internet. So, since September, the industry has sued 382 people in total. More than 200 lawsuits have been settled, most often defendants paying fines of between 1,000 and $3,000 to avoid court.
Among those sued this time around, a 79-year-old retiree from Washington state. He says he doesn't own a computer, nor does he know how to operate one. He says it's probably a billing mix-up with his son-in-law. But it just kind of shows you that the recording industry is going after some people, and might not always be an airtight solution to doing so -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: The lists of the artists that he was accused of downloading include Vanilla Ice, U2, Creed, Lincoln Park and Guns N' Roses.
LEE: That's right. So, maybe he likes that kind of music...
O'BRIEN: Interesting taste for a 79-year-old.
LEE: ... but it doesn't seem all that viable. But the recording industry is, of course, blaming illegal downloads for the 31 percent decline in music sales over the last three years. So, they're trying to do what they can to combat the problem.
O'BRIEN: All right, Carrie Lee for us this morning. Thanks, Carrie. We'll check in with you a little bit later this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
