Hundreds sued over music downloads

The US recording industry today sued 493 more people it said were illegally sharing music across the internet.

The latest round of lawsuits raised to nearly 3,000 the number of people who have been sued by companies.

As in previous cases, the recording industry filed its latest complaints against “John Doe” defendants, identifying them only by their numeric Internet protocol addresses.

It said lawyers will work through the courts to request subpoenas against universities and some commercial Internet providers to learn the defendants’ names.

The Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the largest labels, said none of the lawsuits targeted Internet users at colleges or universities.

It said all 493 defendants were subscribers with commercial Internet accounts from companies in 17 states.

None of the cases has yet gone to trial and 486 people so far have agreed to pay fines of about $3,000 as settlements.