PORTLAND (AP) – Seven Maine college students, including one from New Gloucester, and a mother from Biddeford face federal lawsuits as part of an aggressive attempt by the recording industry to curb illegal sharing of music online.

The suits filed this month in U.S. District Court in Portland and Bangor name as defendants seven students within the University of Maine System and a woman whose teenage son allegedly downloaded and shared music on her home computer.

The copyright-infringement suits are similar to thousands initiated nationwide this year in an effort by the RIAA to rein in file-sharing on campus. The suits seek damages of $750 per download, plus attorneys’ costs. Some of the suits claim the defendants copied and distributed hundreds of original recordings.

Students named as defendants were Lilianne Berube of Hampden; Colby Dunn of Houlton; Anna Lenentine of Monticello; Samantha McKague of New Gloucester; Carol Laude of Wells; Felicia Libby of Porter; and Christopher Leavitt of Windham. The seven, who have 20 days to respond to the complaint, could not be reached for comment.

A separate suit was filed against Marie O’Toole of Biddeford, who said one of her sons downloaded music and was not aware he was breaking the law.

“My husband and I don’t know anything about the computer,” O’Toole said. “I like it to just make cards and stuff. I don’t even bother to use it anymore, because I’m scared now, too.”

The RIAA, whose investigators monitor peer-to-peer systems to gather evidence that can be used in a lawsuit, has sent out about 3,000 pre-litigation letters to officials at colleges across the country. After the colleges notify the students whose Internet addresses were flagged, those students get the chance to call RIAA to negotiate a settlement.

“These are individuals who have not taken advantage of the previous settlement opportunities,” said Cara Duckworth, a spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America. “Just because the Internet allows you to make digital copies of music for free, that doesn’t make it right,” Duckworth said.

Duckworth would not comment on how many college students have settled with the association, and what the average settlement is, but said the RIAA offer is “dramatically lower than what copyright law allows.”

In March, the RIAA issued pre-litigation letters to 26 students at five schools within the University of Maine System. In May, lawyers for the association formally filed suit against 22 of those students, and sent subpoenas to the schools to obtain their names.

“The University System did comply with the subpoenas and provided the names that RIAA was seeking,” system spokesman John Diamond said. He said the system protects the privacy of its students, but was compelled to release the names by the court orders.

Apparently, 19 of the original 26 Maine students targeted by the investigation reached agreements with RIAA.

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