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Judge Rejects RIAA 'Making Available' Theory
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "A federal judge in Connecticut has rejected the RIAA's 'making available' theory, which is the basis of all of the RIAA's peer to peer file sharing cases. In Atlantic v. Brennan, in a 9-page opinion [PDF], Judge Janet Bond Arterton held that the RIAA needs to prove 'actual distribution of copies', and cannot rely — as it was permitted to do in Capitol v. Thomas — upon the mere fact that there are song files on the defendant's computer and that they were 'available'. This is the same issue that has been the subject of extensive briefing in two contested cases in New York, Elektra v. Barker and Warner v. Cassin. Judge Arterton also held that the defendant had other possible defenses, such as the unconstitutionality of the RIAA's damages theory and possible copyright misuse flowing from the record companies' anticompetitive behavior."
Was that the sky falling that hit me on the head or just a smart-stick!
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I would say, "How much more mainstream do you want than Slashdot?" After all, we are legion, we bring down servers across the internet merely by visiting them en masse. But then I look at Ron Paul's primary results and slink back to my basement.
I stole this sig from a more creative user.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
Who the hell gave them the power to just wantonly dispense fair and balanced justice like this? Judges have always been empowered to make huge decisions, but this new behavior is becoming quite alarming. Common sense has been creeping into recent rulings with alarming frequency, and many decisions seem to be based on information, not cash-backed opinions.
I hope this behavior doesn't continue... the entire American way of life is at stake!
I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
Yeah, would you quit covering stuff YOU think is important? Check with Otter before you put something up on your own website, will you?
Don't fret Ray. Otter will probably need some legal help sooner-or-later. Then you can reply, "Otter who?"
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
The making available argument is like blaming shop keepers for having goods available in their stores that could be readily stolen. It's not the theifs fault, look the store just had them sitting there!
Your big words must be a bitch.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Is it just me, or did anyone else laugh that two one-word posts got moderated up pretty high back to back like that?
Seriously though, thanks for what you do.