The pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta will be hosting a discussion on entertainment law and the rights and legal obligations of students regarding intellectual property tonight.
The event, titled “Downloading Your Rights,” will include commentary from a panel of authorities in these fields who will be speaking to students on the subject of music downloading and on the legality of various modes of file acquisition and sharing.
This fall’s Lambda pledge class has been responsible for the organization of the event, said Serafima Krikunova, co-professional chair of the pledge class.
“The event is focusing on entertainment law and some of the legality of piracy, file sharing, intellectual property as it pertains to entertainment, and the ramifications for those who are committing crimes regarding these,” said Joseph Gassner, co-professional chair of the Lambda pledge class.
Because the sharing of media is so prevalent on college campuses, the speakers’ insight is especially valuable to the student population of UCLA.
“Illegal downloading is still a very current issue that hasn’t really come up with a solution yet,” Krikunova said. “It will serve everybody’s interests in the future to talk about the present and see any possible solutions. This is an issue for both the recording industry and students as well.”
According to Daily Bruin archives, the percentage of students who continue using illegal file-sharing programs on campus even after reprimand from UCLA remains constant at about 9 percent.
“It’s becoming more of a hassle to go and buy a music CD or to go and pay 99 cents for it when you can get it for free,” said Brad Ghanem, a third-year mechanical engineering student.
Students said prosecuting parties in civil litigations over copyrighted material should not be targeting students but rather the ways in which they share and download files.
“I think, instead of stopping students or pursuing students, the music industry should do something on possibly preventing these (file sharing) programs from being created,” Ghanem said. “I think it’s wrong to sue them ““ maybe other ways would be more appropriate.”
The event, which is to be held in the second floor lounge of Ackerman Union, will include speeches from a group of legal professionals who will each speak individually on different topics, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with the audience.
“We contacted prominent firms that specialize in the area, so those are the three attorneys,” said Krikunova. “We also have a speaker from getlegal.com, and he’s going to be talking about the alternatives at his (Web) site.”
While the attendance of pledges in Phi Alpha Delta is mandatory, the event’s organizers said they also expect to see a large turnout from nonmember students and hope to inform a large portion of the student population on their rights and responsibilities when downloading music.
“It’s an informational event more than a recruiting event,” Gassner said. “It’s to inform people of the legality of entertainment law in the Internet age and what that means for lawyers.”