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Florida Judge Smacks Down RIAA
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The RIAA is going to have to face the music in Tampa, Florida, and answer the charges of extortion, trespass, conspiracy, unlicensed investigation, and computer fraud and abuse that have been leveled against them there. And the judge delivered his ruling against them in in pretty unceremonious fashion — receiving their dismissal motion last night, and denying the motion this morning. The RIAA's unvarying M.O., when hit with counterclaims, is to make a motion to dismiss them. It did just that in one Tampa case, UMG v. Del Cid, but the judge upheld 5 of the 6 counterclaims. The RIAA quickly settled that one. When a new case came up in the same Tampa courthouse before the very same judge, and the same 5 counterclaims were leveled against the record companies, I opined that 'it is highly unlikely that the RIAA will make a motion to dismiss counterclaims,' since I knew they'd be risking sanctions if they did. Well I guess I underestimated the chutzpah — or the propensity for frivolous motion practice — of the RIAA lawyers, as they in essence thumbed their nose at the judge, making the dismissal motion anyway, telling District Judge Richard A. Lazzara that his earlier decision had been wrong. The judge wasted no time telling the record companies that he did not agree (PDF)."
Very much so wrong. Look at who brought the suit the first time: UMG.
The individual record companies have to sue; the RIAA just does the legwork for "finding" who "made files available" and hands it off.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
This has been answered by others, but it's worth noting that the reason why this doesn't involve the RIAA is because the RIAA doesn't hold the copyrights involved. It's beginning to seem like copyright law is unenforceable...
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
Copyright appears to be largely unenforceable on pseudo-anonymous networks, due in part to the difficulty of gathering evidence on these networks. This will only lead to the members of the RIAA buying stronger laws which either allow a suit for weaker evidence, or allow seizure of computer equipment in order to gather evidence of copyright infringement. In the latter case, such a law is already making its way through the congressional process.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
I know you're being funny but FYI, Robert Palmer, who sang "Addicted to Love", died in 2003.
0x09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
If the door is chipped the state of the action is changed. You are no longer taking the same action, ie attacking an undamaged door. You are taking a new action attacking a damaged door.
That's a coincidence because Peter Gabriel also had his servers stolen :) Since he's not exactly a favourite child of the RIAA, I suspect their hand in it.
"I would say to artists at the beginning of their career in this business: own your name, own your website, own your rights. There's a future with a record business, which I think does a great job sometimes, but as a service industry and not as owners of creative talent. But it's only if artists are smart enough, which traditionally we've never been, to act together and to work together that we're going to see that sort of future." (Peter Gabriel speaking at the BT Digital Music Awards in 2006)
A One that isn't cold, is scarcely a One at all.
24 significant bits does not a class B make