Slashdot Mirror


RIAA Lawsuits from a John Doe's Perspective

An anonymous reader writes "Nick Mamatas was sued by and subsequently settled with the RIAA for file sharing. He wrote a piece for the Village Voice describing his experience, and he goes on to briefly discuss the implications of "John Doe" file-sharing lawsuits. He argues that the labels are using these suits as a source of profit; he also claims that when his lawyer contacted the RIAA to discuss the suit, he was put in touch with a regular staffer, not another lawyer. 'It feels like they're doing a volume business,' Mamatas' lawyer notes."

1 of 629 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Someone tell me if I am wrong, but... by compro01 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    This is precisely the type of copyright defense that was originally intended in America by our founders


    are you trying to be funny? copyright was not intended to give basically perpetual profit to a corperation. it was originaly, what, 7 years? it's now life of artist, plus 75 years. that's 75 years that *record company* is able to sell the song exclucively at pure profit. no artist royalites.

    your copyright system is a equally screwed up as your patent system. both need a serious overhaul, soon.

    --
    upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time