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File Sharer Settles with RIAA for a Whopping $756 a Song - Via Threat Level:
A Bronx woman is agreeing to pay the Recording Industry Association of America $6,050 to settle allegations she purloined eight tracks on the file sharing network Kazaa.
That's $756.25 a song from artists (.pdf) DMX, Lenny Kravitz, Eagles, Sade, Ready For the World, Uncle Sam and Tamia.
The settlement (.pdf) came three weeks after the woman, Denise Barker, admitted liability and challenged (.pdf) the constitutionality of the Copyright Act, the law under which the RIAA sued Barker and thousands of others for copyright infringement. Among other things, Barker alleged the act's fines, up to $150,000 per track, were unconstitutionally excessive and against U.S. Supreme Court precedent. read more »
Universities Quietly Fighting Back Against RIAA Tactics - Via EFF.org Updates:
Students that receive notices from the RIAA accusing them of illegal filesharing don't have many options. Innocent or not, their choices are limited to either paying the $3000-$5000 settlement, or going to court — where the RIAA's deep pockets guarantee an outrageously expensive legal battle.
But universities themselves do have ways to fight the RIAA's strong arm tactics, and more and more of them are choosing to quietly fight back. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports this week that schools are growing resentful of the constant stream of pre-litigation letters from the RIAA, and the costly investigations that come with them:
Responding to RIAA notices used to be part-time work for one person, said William C. Dougherty, assistant director for systems support at Virginia Tech. "Now he's doing it full time and has an assistant," he said. "Our attorneys are also involved on almost a daily basis, as am I."
The article describes several ways universities are resisting the RIAA. Some are refusing to forward the RIAA's letters to students, claiming that doing so conflicts with their responsibilities under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Others are trying to quash subpoenas for the identity of students linked with a given IP address by claiming such requests place an "undue burden" on the school. read more »
DRM for Streaming Music Dies a Quiet Death - Via EFF.org Updates:
Yet another nail has been driven into DRM's coffin, this time for streaming audio (PCPro has a nice overview of the state of DRM for digital music).
Two of the leading on-demand streaming music sites, iMeem and LaLa, are not using DRM on their audio streams, instead sending the music as MP3s dusted with a dash of obfuscation. This is significant because both sites have been licensed by all the major record labels -- the very same record labels that were just last year pushing Congress to require DRM on all noninteractive webcasts. So it looks like the RIAA companies have changed their minds, dropping DRM requirements for the on-demand streaming music services.
This should put an end to legislation to mandate DRM on noninteractive webcasters. After all, why should these webcasters be in a worse position than the free, on-demand music services like LaLa and iMeem? read more »
RIAA Pays Tanya Andersen $107,951 - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Well, Phase I of the RIAA's misguided pursuit of an innocent, disabled Oregon woman, Atlantic v. Andersen, has finally drawn to a close, as the RIAA was forced to pay Ms. Andersen $107,951, representing the amount of her attorneys fee judgment plus interest. But as some have pointed out, reimbursement for legal fees doesn't compensate Ms. Andersen for the other damages she's sustained. And that's where Phase II comes in, Andersen v. Atlantic. There the shoe is on the other foot, and Tanya is one doing the hunting, as she pursues the record companies and their running dogs for malicious prosecution. Should be interesting."
Judge Hints at Mistrial in RIAA v. Jammie Thomas - Via Threat Level:
DULUTH, Minnesota -- The federal judge who presided over the nation's only peer-to-peer copyright-infringement trial announced from the bench here Monday that he is likely to declare a mistrial.
"Certainly, I have sent a signal to both sides of where I'm headed," U.S. District Judge Michael Davis said during a 70-minute hearing in which lawyers for the Recording Industry Association of America and defendant Jammie Thomas sparred over whether a jury verdict against Thomas should be overturned.
At issue is whether the RIAA needs to prove that copyrighted music offered by a defendant on a peer-to-peer network was actually downloaded by anyone. During Thomas' trial last October, Davis, on the RIAA's recommendation, instructed (.pdf) the jury that no such proof was necessary; if Thomas had the music in her Kazaa shared folder, where it could be downloaded, she could be found liable "regardless of whether actual distribution has been shown." read more »
Arguments in Jammie Thomas RIAA Case Starting Soon - Via Threat Level:
DULUTH, Minnesota – Threat Level is here outside U.S. District Judge Michael Davis' courtroom ahead of a scheduled 10 a.m. central time hearing in the Jammie Thomas file sharing case, the nation's first such case to go to trial.
Ten months ago to the day, a federal jury here dinged the Minnesota woman $222,000 for making 24 copyrighted songs available on the Kazaa network. But Davis, on his own motion, called the Recording Industry Association of America and lawyers for Thomas back here to his courtroom for Monday's hearing. read more »
RIAA Gets Nervous, Brings In Big Gun - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "I guess the RIAA is getting nervous about the ability of its 'national law firm' (in charge of bringing 'ex parte' motions, securing default judgments, and beating up grandmothers and children) to handle the oral argument scheduled to be heard on Monday, August 4th in Duluth, in Capitol v. Thomas. So, at the eleventh hour, it has brought in one of its 'Big Guns' from Washington, D.C., a lawyer who argues United States Supreme Court cases like MGM v. Grokster to handle the argument. This is the case where a $222,000 verdict was awarded for downloading 24 songs, but the judge ultimately realized that he had been misled by the RIAA in issuing his jury instructions, and indicated he's probably going to order a new trial. But, not to worry. A group of 10 copyright law professors from 10 different law schools and several other amici curiae (friends of the court) have filed briefs now, so it is highly unlikely the judge will allow himself to be misled again, no matter who the RIAA brings in as cannon fodder on Monday."
RIAA's Lawsuit Strategy in the Balance at Jammie Thomas Hearing Monday - Via Threat Level:
A federal judge on Monday will consider reversing the nation's first and only federal jury verdict against a Kazaa user for distributing copyrighted music on a peer-to-peer network without the labels' authorization.
The outcome is likely to have wide-ranging implications in the Recording Industry Association of America's file-sharing litigation campaign –- 20,000 lawsuits and counting. Most cases have settled out of court for a few thousand dollars and had never broached the topic of whether the RIAA must prove copyright violations.
The RIAA claims that infringement on peer-to-peer networks is implied, and that it shouldn't have to provide proof -- because it's impossible. read more »
Senators Announce New Intellectual Property Enforcement Bill - Via EFF.org Updates:
Last week, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee introduced the "Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008," a bill that proposes a number of alarming changes to copyright law. The bill is the Senate's gift to big content owners, creating new and powerful tools -- many of which will be paid for by your tax dollars -- for the entertainment industry to go after infringers. But it doesn’t offer a lick of protection for legitimate innovators and technology users that may be buried by the copyright juggernaut.
One of the bill's most disturbing changes would give the Attorney General new powers to sue individuals on behalf of rightsholders like the MPAA and the RIAA. Bill proponents claim that these new powers, which would allow the AG to bring "milder" civil as well as criminal actions, are necessary because some offenses don’t rise to the level of criminal conduct. This justification just doesn’t make sense. If it’s a low-level offense, why should our top cops pursue it? read more »
RIAA Critic Beckerman Scores Judiciary's Ear - Via Threat Level:
New York attorney Ray Beckerman, an outspoken critic of the Recording Industry Association of America, has acquired the ear of thousands of federal judges nationwide.
The American Bar Association's "Judge's Journal" summer issue is publishing his lengthy paper, Large Recording Companies v. The Defenseless (.pdf). The publisher of the blog, Recording Industry vs The People, does an excellent job of explaining the finer legal points of the RIAA's litigation machine. read more »
ABA Judges Get an Earful About RIAA Litigations - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "I was afforded the opportunity to write for a slightly different audience — the judges who belong to the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association. I was invited by the The Judges Journal, their quarterly publication, to do a piece on the RIAA litigations for the ABA's Summer 2008 'Equal Access to Justice' issue. What I came up with was 'Large Recording Companies vs. The Defenseless: Some Common Sense Solutions to the Challenges of the RIAA Litigations,' in which I describe the unfairness of these cases and make 15 suggestions as to how the courts could level the playing field. I'm hoping the judges mod my article '+5 Insightful,' but I'd settle for '+3 Informative.' Here is the actual article (PDF). (If anyone out there can send me a decent HTML version of it, I'll run that one up the flagpole as well.)" --- Wired is helping to spread the word on Ray's article.
New RIAA Lawsuit Defense Tactic: Admit Liability, Challenge the Law - Via Threat Level:
Here's a unique defense to a Recording Industry Association of America file sharing lawsuit: Admit liability and challenge the law under which you're being sued.
That's what a Bronx woman did Monday in New York federal court (.pdf). Denise Barker is accused of file sharing eight songs on the Kazaa network in 2004. If found liable, she faces fines under the Copyright Act of $750 to $150,000 per song.
Barker's attorney, Ray Beckerman, admitted the woman file shared and challenged the constitutionality of the Copyright Act, the law under which the RIAA sued Barker and thousands of others. The fines the act authorizes for each download is unconstitutionally excessive and against U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Beckerman said. read more »
Dell Colludes With RIAA, Disables Stereo Mix - Via Slashdot:
RCTrucker7 writes with a link to a Maximum PC story, which begins: "Details of Dell's surreptitious collusion with RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) have emerged. Apparently, the computer manufacturer disabled the Stereo Mix/Mono Mix/Wave Out sound recording function on certain notebooks to assuage RIAA. The hardware functionality is being disabled without any prior notice and one blogger has even alleged that he was asked by Dell's customer support staff to shelve out $99 if he desired the stereo mix option. Gateway and Pac Bell are the other two manufacturers to have bowed to RIAA at the expense of their customers' satisfaction and disabled stereo mix without warning." (There are some workarounds posted in the comments of the linked article.)
(Read Original Article - Via Slashdot.)
RIAA 'Making Available' Argument: File Sharers 'Freeload' - Via Threat Level:
The Recording Industry Association of America on Monday urged a federal judge to leave intact a $222,000 jury verdict against Jammie Thomas, the Minnesota mother of two who has become a public symbol of the RIAA's litigation campaign of more than 20,000 copyright lawsuits against peer-to-peer file sharers.
The RIAA echoed its sister lobbying group, the Motion Picture Association of America, by telling the Thomas judge that solely making available copyrighted works on a peer-to-peer network is enough to prove unauthorized distribution with fines of up to $150,000 per violation. Any higher standard of actual proof, the RIAA said, would "cripple" copyright enforcement in the digital age.
"Requiring proof of actual transfers would cripple efforts to enforce copyright owners' rights online – and would solely benefit those who seek to freeload off plaintiff's investment," RIAA attorney Timothy Reynolds wrote (.pdf) U.S. District Judge Michael Davis on Monday. read more »
NC Judge Takes "A Fresh Look" At RIAA Subpoenas - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "When some North Carolina State students recently brought to the attention of the Court the apparent illegality of the RIAA's investigations by unlicensed investigators, they also caught the attention of the judges. After reading these new papers, District Judge Louise W. Flanagan, who admits that she's been routinely signing the RIAA's ex parte discovery orders in the past, has indicated that she is now going to take 'a fresh look' at the RIAA's tactics. She issued a stay of the subpoena, ordering NC State not to respond to it, and referred the motions to dismiss the cases to a Magistrate Judge for him to take that 'fresh look' at what has been going on."
RIAA Wants To Throw In the Towel On 3-Year-Old Case - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "After three years of pursuing a home health aide in Brooklyn who has never even used a computer, the RIAA has announced it's ready to throw in the towel. Only thing; it wants the dismissal to be 'without prejudice' so it won't be liable for attorney's fees. The courts have been saying that where a copyright plaintiff gives up, the defendant is presumptively entitled to an attorney's fee award. So, Ms. Lindor says 'no way.' She wants the dismissal to be 'with prejudice,' and she wants her attorney's fees." ---
We've been discussing this case and Ms. Lindor's fight against the RIAA for quite some time.
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