COPYCENSE

“Wayne Chang hopes to return to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst this year to finish up a business degree. But he might not be altogether welcome on campus, since dozens of his fellow students are threatening to sue him for $157,500.

“That’s what it will cost the students to settle lawsuits from music recording companies, which say the students illegally distributed copyrighted tunes over the Internet using a file-swapping service founded by Chang and called i2hub. Chang said he had no idea students would use his system for illegal activity. But the UMass-Amherst students say i2hub’s advertising misled them into believing that the file swapping was legal. They want Chang’s defunct service to pay the damages.”

Hiawatha Bray. UMass Users Ask File-Swap Service Founder to Pay Up. Boston.com. Jan. 19, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.