Music Publishers Ready Major Push Against Online Copyright ViolatorsMusic Publishers Ready Major Push Against Online Copyright Violators

The Music Publishers' Association said Monday it plans to launch by early February its first major push to shut down Web sites that illegally offer copyrighted sheet music.

The New York-based group plans to send "cease and desist" letters to commercial sites that offer unlicensed print music, MPA President Lauren Keiser said. The group also plans to send letters to Internet service providers, notifying them that they are hosting sites engaged in illegal activity.

"We're not going after fan sites," Keiser said. "We're going after Web sites whose sole business model is to take unlicensed copyrighted material and publish it on their sites."

Many of the targeted businesses are drawing revenue from banner advertising from large companies, Keiser said.

"They are making money and not paying our writers," he said.

The planned legal action marks a change among music publishers, which had been filing individual lawsuits against copyright violators.

"We felt that it would be stronger, if we took a unified approach," Keiser said.

The MPA declined to provide any specifics until after the letters are sent, including the number of companies that would be targeted. Keiser, however, did say piracy in the music publishing industry is a growing problem.

Record companies have been suing file-sharing companies for several years for failing to take action to prevent subscribers from illegally swapping copyrighted songs.

The U.S. Supreme Court, ruling on a lawsuit filed by MGM Studios against Grokster, found this year that file-sharing services were responsible for copyright violations, if they intended customers to use their software primarily to swap songs and movies illegally.

The ruling led to Grokster and at least two other file-sharing networks shutting down as a result of legal actions taken by major record companies, motion picture studios and music publishers. Grokster is expected to launch a legal operation in the future.

The nonprofit MPA, founded in 1895, is the oldest music trade group in the United States.