MPAA Settlement Supplemented by Education Provision
The MPAA’s settlement of a copyright infringement case in Wis. had an unusual component: The defendant agreed to participate in development of an education curriculum on copyright law for grade school students. Sources we asked had never heard of such a provision in any settlement, with either the film or music industries, but MPAA told us it has incorporated similar provisions in other cases.
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Fred Lawrence, 67, of Racine was sued Nov. 1 on charges of downloading movies including The Incredibles, I, Robot, The Grudge and The Forgotten, according to records of the U.S. Dist. Court, Milwaukee. The suit was filed after Lawrence turned down a $4,000 settlement offer. His then-12-year-old live-in grandson apparently downloaded the files. Lawrence told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel his grandson was curious, and the family already owned 3 of the 4 films cited by MPAA: It was “an innocent mistake.” He turned down the first settlement for lack of money, even with the 12-to-18 month installment plan MPAA proposed in a followup offer.
Lawrence attorney Jill Welytok told us the education offer was her idea. An author on copyright law representing about a dozen file-swapping defendants, she called the intersection of technology and copyright “a problem that no one is quite ready to deal with,” least of all children. Under the agreement, Lawrence will help the MPAA and Milwaukee Bar Assn. develop a grade-school curriculum on copyright law. The project will start as a pilot at Maple Dale School in nearby Fox Point in late Jan., Welytok said. The school put together a curriculum committee to work with the industry and bar association. “I think the emerging feeling is that this is something that needs to be integrated into the technology curriculum” in schools, Welytok said: “It’s a simple concept, but I think it made sense to a lot of people.” She said she hopes the program is adopted by other schools.
An MPAA spokeswoman told us Lawrence and his grandson would likely give talks “to educate kids on the consequences of piracy,” as well as tell parents what their responsibilities are. Industry education allies will probably participate as well. Such education components in settlements aren’t new for the MPAA, and some defendants “have offered to help,” she said: “It’s much preferred if people can tell their own stories… The local angle helps us talk to people” that may not pay attention to national legal or educational campaigns against piracy.
“This is the first settlement we've heard of that includes something like this,” Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Fred von Lohmann told us, adding that “the MPAA has been quite tight-lipped” about settlement provisions. The MPAA spokeswoman credited the publicity surrounding Lawrence’s case as the reason the educational offers only came to light now. Previous settlements didn’t involve such highly-publicized cases, she said. N.Y. attorney Ray Beckerman, who has represented several defendants in music-swapping lawsuits, told us he was unaware of such provisions in RIAA settlements: “It’s the RIAA that needs instruction on copyright law.” An RIAA spokeswoman told us “we are just not in a position to have this conversation” now on whether they've used education provisions in settlements.
Welytok stressed that the education provision was not a “new twist” in copyright lawsuits, and it wasn’t “in lieu of a financial settlement.” Technically Lawrence’s acquiescence to participate isn’t in the settlement, “but it did help facilitate the settlement,” she said. Welytok and MPAA declined to say whether the education provision affected the financial portion of the settlement in any way.