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Napster Legal Battle Reaches from Beyond the Grave
neelm writes "The EFF is reporting that EMI and Universal Music Group may have been caught lying to the Department of Justice in the 2001 antitrust investigation involving MusicNet, and pressplay. The 2001 investigation found no evidence of illegal efforts to monopolize digital music distribution, but new evidence presented by Hummer Winblad and Bertelsman ("original napster" investors) in their on-going defense from the RIAA suggests otherwise. The judge ruled that the documents to be turned over were not protected by attorney-client privilege because '[the court] finds reasonable cause to believe that the attorney's services were utilized in furtherance of the ongoing unlawful scheme.'"
Whoa. The RIAA might be lying. Let me sit down a minute and get my bearings.... This is pretty shocking. Give me a paper bag so I don't hyperventilate.
Hopefully this will turn up some damning evidence on RIAA, but I no longer get my hopes up about anything related to them. Even if this works as a defense the chances that the DOJ is going to reopen the monopoly investigation is probably nil.
The part that interested me is -
"that the RIAA companies forfeited their copyright claims thanks to their coordinated and illegal effort to monopolize digital music distribution"
What exactly do they mean by forfeiting copyright claims? Surely they don't mean that the members of RIAA would lose their copyright over their music? They've got senators that kill those sorts of laws don't they?
Ah, it's the old "tunnelling over a PPP connection on a Ouija board" trick.
The fact that companies even think this is ok to try is why I have no faith in our legal system.
These companies should have something severe as a punishment, like serious jailtime for the offenders and big fines for the corporation.
Although the current justice dept will probably just put them in the proverbial "time-out" then give them a cookie.
Make an example out of a couple of them.
The government should have the will to reject a corporation's charter for shit like this.
You're correct of course. Tarring, feathering setting on fire and hanging is the appropriate punishment.
By the way, which label do you work for?
It's, presumably, a quote from the movie "Office Space" where the characters talk about how they'll be going to "pound-me-in-the-ass prison" after stealing something like $400,000 from the bank their company wrote software for.
You see, in America, anal rape in prison is considered funny and part of the punishment for whatever crime commited. I'm not entirely sure why anal rape is considered an acceptable part of prison and consensual anal sex is considered illegal (which is rather ironic - get convicted of having consensual anal sex, get sent to a prison where it's expected that you'll get anally raped).
But, it's just another part of America's messed up culture on sex - sex is OK as a punishment, but must be bad if it's consensual. See, 'cause enjoying things is bad, according to some interpretations of the Bible.
What's with geeks and "pound me in the ass"?
It's from the movie "Office Space". Sorry, but your fantasies about anal sex with geeks will have to go unfulfilled.
Trolling is a art,
sounds like a Douglas Adams character