RIAA ignores direct order from LA judge

A federal judge in Los Angeles could be less than pleased with lawyers for the Recording Industry Association of America after the group did something it was specifically instructed not to do.

The RIAA is currently working to line up cases against University of Southern California students accused of illegal file-sharing. On October 7, District Court judge Manuel L. Real gave Motown Record Company (the lead in the case) permission to subpoena USC to get the name of a student, whom the complaint named only as "John Doe."

In the ruling on the ex parte discovery motion (PDF available here), Real said that the information thus received was ordered by the court "to be used for the sole purpose of obtaining injunctive relief pursuant to the complaint filed herein protecting plaintiff's right under the Copyright Act."

In other words, the judge made a point of saying that the record companies can use the information to build their case, not for, as they say, "monetary relief" or "extrajudicial settlements." RIAA's lawsuits often never manifest, as music-industry reps use the name and contact information gathered by ex parte discovery to convince alleged downloaders to simply hand over some money if they don't want to be dragged through the courts.

However, the LAist blog has reported that USC students are now getting calls and letters from the record companies proposing some of those notorious four-figure "settlements" for making this case go away -- well before any actual suit is, obviously, filed, and in apparently contravention of the judge's instructions.

At press time no statement has been released by Judge Real or the court as to what happens when a plaintiff ignores specific language in a ruling -- particular when it's a procedure so central to the RIAA's legal strategy over the years. But as a wise Slashdot commenter puts it, "Judges take a dim view of being ignored."