Slashdot Mirror
RIAA Complaint Dismissed as "Boilerplate"
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The decision many lawyers had been expecting — that the RIAA's 'boilerplate' complaint fails to state a claim for relief under the Copyright Act — has indeed come down, but from an unlikely source. While the legal community has been looking towards a Manhattan case (Elektra v. Barker) for guidance, the decision instead came from Senior District Court Judge Rudi M. Brewster of the US District Court for the Southern District of California. The decision handed down denied a default judgment (i.e. the defendant had not even appeared in the action). Judge Brewster not only denied the default judgment motion but dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. Echoing the words of Judge Karas at the oral argument in Barker , Judge Brewster held (pdf) that 'Plaintiff here must present at least some facts to show the plausibility of their allegations of copyright infringement against the Defendant. However, other than the bare conclusory statement that on "information and belief" Defendant has downloaded, distributed and/or made available for distribution to the public copyrighted works, Plaintiffs have presented no facts that would indicate that this allegation is anything more than speculation.'"
Uhhh, since when is music "one of the largest sectors of industry"?
Total music industry revenue is about $40 billion worldwide, and about $12 billion in the United States, per year.
The GDP of the United States is $13.13 trillion, per year.
Compare this to "self storage" companies which make about $22.6 billion, per year.
Companies that supply lock up garages for people who own too much crap make almost twice as much per year as the music industry.
How we know is more important than what we know.
The suit to follow is Tanya Andersen's. She has initiated a class action suit on behalf of all innocent people who have been harassed and bullied by RIAA lawyers. In Andersen v. Atlantic, the RIAA will have to defend itself against charges of malicious prosecution, and her case looks like a winner.
Indeed, they should listen to the Patrician and realise that instead of fighting, they should accept a smaller slice but enlarge the pie. There would be lots of $$ to be made if they looked to the future rather than the past.
Between the falling angel and the rising ape
-only about 20% of the cases result in settlements, and
the RIAA is losing millions of dollars on the litigations.
They make money on quick settlements; they lose money on default judgments; they lose a lot of money on cases that litigate for awhile and then settle; and they lose a fortune on cases where the defendant fights back.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
However, other than the bare conclusory statement that on "information and belief" Defendant has downloaded, distributed and/or made available for distribution to the public copyrighted works
Speaking as a lawyer who has used that term in complaints: anytime you see the words "upon information and belief", that means "ummm...theoretically this might have maybe could have happened".