From yesterday's S.F. Chronicle, which AP later picked up: Music industry threatens student downloaders at UC

The music industry has sent hundreds of threatening letters to college students across the nation, including dozens at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, as part of its campaign against illegal music downloading. ... sending more than 400 "prelitigation" letters that order the students to pay a settlement fee or face a lawsuit.

Sound familiar? It should:

The letters are the latest escalation in the industry's battle against peer-to-peer music sharing on the Internet. Years after the rise and fall of Napster, the file-sharing program that popularized illegal downloading in the 1990s, the music industry continues to lose millions of dollars in music sales because consumers are getting their tunes for free on the Web.

The strategy that seemed so effective a few years ago--sue the pants off a few to reduce demand among many--gets a new and much broader boost.

For comic relief, Mother Jones is always a good choice. Try their April 2006 litany of IP follies here.

My favorite:

AMONG THE 16,000 people thus far sued for sharing music files was a 65-year-old woman who, though she didn’t own downloading software, was accused of sharing 2,000 songs, including Trick Daddy’s “I’m a Thug.” She was sued for up to $150,000 per song.

Honorable mention:

A FRENCH DIRECTOR had to pay $1,300 after a character in his film whistled the communist anthem, “The Internationale,” without permission.

And couldn't resist:

HOOTERS SUED a competitor for stealing its “trade dress,” i.e., the packaging of its waitresses.

(Woops. Did I just over quote? Sue me.)