In March 2007, a law firm representing the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) contacted Universities around the country advising them that the Association intends to launch a renewed campaign to address the issue of illegal copyright infringement that it believes occurs on college campuses. At stake is literally billions of dollars of "lost revenue" which the RIAA seeks to reclaim from individuals it believes have downloaded media from illegal providers or file-sharing entities. Several Universities where large numbers of illegal downloads were tracked have already been the subject of this campaign.

As a part of this campaign, the RIAA has indicated that it intends ask Universities to voluntarily distribute what it calls "pre-lawsuit" letters to alleged "copyright infringers." It will identify the alleged copyright infringers by internet protocol (IP) address – the unique identifier that associates to PC’s with internet connectivity. These letters will offer alleged infringers the opportunity to settle claims with the RIAA prior to the Association filing a formal lawsuit seeking damages in federal court. (To review a generic copy of this letter, please click on the link labeled "Student Letter" to the left.)  In the past, Gonzaga University has received subpoenas related to such lawsuits and has been legally obligated to turn over all relevant information to the RIAA and/or their representatives. At this time, the University has not received any letters offering "pre-lawsuit" settlements, nor has it determined how it will respond to any such letters in the future.

What You Should (and Should Not) Do:

This page is to make you aware of the plans by the RIAA to launch this renewed effort and to urge you to take proactive steps to avoid, either intentionally or inadvertently, any activities that infringe on the legally held copyrights of others. Quite simply, it is both illegal and unethical to make unauthorized copies of any work that is copyrighted to another person or entity. This includes music, movies, books, software, magazine or journal articles, photos, or a host of other categories of intellectual property. If you download copyrighted material, ensure you are doing so legally. If you are operating any software that allows copyrighted material to be copied by others from your computer we urge you to disable this software immediately. And, conversely, if you make unauthorized copies of works that are the intellectual property of some other person or entity, we strongly encourage you to procure legal and licensed copies of these materials. If you have any questions about whether your computer is operating any such software, you may contact The Computer Repair Guys, located in the lower level of the Crosby Center, at ext.5927.

 More information is available at the RIAA website http://www.campusdownloading.com.