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RIAA Sues Usenet.com

Posted by kdawson on from the not-the-same-as-suing-usenet dept.

Several readers pointed us to Torrentfreak's coverage of the RIAA's latest move: the major record labels have launched a copyright infringement lawsuit against Usenet.com. The complaint, filed in the federal District Court in New York, accuses Usenet.com of providing access to millions of copyright-infringing files and slams it for touting its service as a "haven for those seeking pirated content." Usenet.com has been refusing the labels' requests to block access to alleged "copyright infringing groups."

3 of 495 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I've seen the trickle down effects of piracy by SomeJoel · · Score: 5, Informative

    Most slashdotters that are against the RIAA/MPAA for their tactics would also be against the piracy you described. Typically, this community accepts "personal use" type file-sharing, where the song/movie is not then sold on the black market. In fact, the RIAA would be perfectly in the right to sue in this case. However, they should sue the pirating karaoke bars that are making profits because of piracy, not the medium from which they obtained them. Furthermore, they should not have to pay $220,000 per track in any case, but rather something more along the lines of actual loss (maybe a grand total of $300,000 as you cited in your example).

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  2. Re:Ahh crap-DISMANTLE ONE SERVER AT A TIME by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This seems like it there may be a precedent for this case already:

    http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2006dltr0019.html

  3. Good Luck Riaa, Usenet servers are ISP's in law. by plasmacutter · · Score: 5, Informative
    to quote this informed poster from a previous usenet related infringement story.

    The problem for the MPAA is that Usenet providers have been deemed to be 17 USC 512(a) service providers. That means they can't be successfully sued for copyright infringement for material traversing their networks, and they need not even respond to takedown notices for such material. Yep, it's their own law, the DMCA, working against them. Though before that law, the Netcom case left them pretty hamstrung anyway.


    Let's hope Usenet.com has good lawyers who know about this.
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