The first wave of 261 lawsuits were filed in early September, following a carefully planned RIAA summer campaign to tackle the illegal downloading of copyrighted music over file-sharing networks such as KaZaA.
The RIAA announced in June that it would be turning its attention to individual pirates, not just the file-sharing networks that facilitate file swapping.
The organisation was heavily criticised for the flood of subpoenas it issued under the controversial US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The subpoenas ordered ISPs to identify targeted individuals, allowing the RIAA to take legal action against them. But it has not been an easy process for the RIAA.
From a PR perspective, the campaign has been a disaster, with the RIAA being slated for the way in which the identities of the defendants were made public. Sometimes the first a defendant heard of the legal action against him was when a reporter phoned him up to ask for a comment.
It was particularly unfortunate that the first person to settle an action was a woman whose twelve-year-old daughter was caught with songs on her computer.
As a result of the criticisms, the RIAA sent warning letters this month to its next batch of 204 targets, explaining that they could settle or be sued. Eighty suits have now been filed, and 124 settlements are being arranged.
"We are pleased that our efforts to extend illegal file sharers an additional chance to come clean and work out settlements are proving successful," said RIAA President Cary Sherman.