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Has RIAA Abandoned the 'Making Available' Defense?
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The RIAA's standard complaint (pdf) was thrown out last month by a federal judge in California as speculation in Interscope v. Rodriguez. Interestingly, the RIAA's amended complaint (pdf), filed six days later, abandoned altogether the RIAA's 'making available' argument. (Whereby making files available at all for download is infringement.) It first formulated that defense against a dismissal motion in Elektra v. Barker. This raises a number of questions: Is the RIAA is going to stick to this new form of complaint in future cases? Will they get into a different kind of trouble for some of its their new allegations, such as the contention that the investigator "detected an individual" (contradicting the testimony of the RIAA's own expert witness)? And finally, what tack will defendants' lawyers take (this was one lawyer's suggestion)?"
Except when it comes to GPL software. Stealing 20 lines of GPL code should be punishable by death!
It felt appropriate to say
You wouldn't steal a handbag... You wouldn't steal a car... You wouldn't steal a baby... You wouldn't shoot a policeman, and then steal his helmet... You wouldn't go to the toilet in his helmet, and then send it to the policeman's grieving widow, and then steal it again! Downloading films is stealing!
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
That's not true! They generally make the articles available at least twice.