Arizona Judge Shoots Down RIAA Theories

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In Atlantic v. Howell, the judge has totally eviscerated the RIAA's theories of 'making available' and 'offering to distribute.' In a 17-page opinion (PDF), District Judge Neil V. Wake carefully analyzed the statute and case law, and based on a 'plain reading of the statute' concluded that 'Unless a copy of the work changes hands in one of the designated ways, a "distribution" under [sec.] 106(3) has not taken place.' The judge also questioned the sufficiency of the RIAA's evidence pointing towards defendant, as opposed to other members of his household. This is the Phoenix, Arizona, case in which the defendant is representing himself, but received some timely help from his friends. And it's the same case in which the RIAA suggested that Mr. Howell's MP3s, copied from his CDs, were unlawful. One commentator calls today's decision 'Another bad day for the RIAA.'"

Comments

Re:Make the RIAA Download/Upload

[Anonymous Coward]

And britneyspearstoxic.mp3 is 0% evidence of copyright infringement.

No, its just 100% evidence of bad taste.

Re:Make the RIAA Download/Upload

[s0litaire]

but britneyspearstoxic.mp3 is 100% evident of bad musical taste. :D:D that alone deserves a lawsuit or 2 ;) lol

Re:Judge shoots down RIAA

[mpoulton]

CCW FTW!

Re:He got by with a little help from his friends..

[amccaf1]

I guess that you could say that "he got by with a little help from his friends".

That Billy Shears was a rockin' dude.

What would you do,
If the labels said they'd sue,
Would you freak out and pay them their fee?

Send me a judge,
And he'll interpret the law,
And he won't put you under lock and key.

Re:Once again a court

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

when you charge someone with distribution, you have to well, prove, they did in fact distribute it Picky picky.

Re:Once again a court

[RiotingPacifist]

the porn defence,
well i was just browsing porn and then something happened and my computer was full of the internets

only the RIAA could distort reality so much that people claim to be downloading porn to explain the presence of music & films on thier computer.

shame that itll be very easy to prove that the files wernt ripped from the CDs when:
a) The files are encoded by a variety of encoders and a variety of bandwidth (like to see him explain that, he could at best make the jury not 100% sure)
b) The comment files contain "get your warez from stupidwebsite.com"

Re:Make the RIAA Download/Upload

[mopower70]

That gave me an idea... What if someone recorded a few minutes of belching and farting, named it after some song RIAA seeks You've just describe "American Idol."