Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

RIAA Throws In Towel On "Making Available" Case

Posted by timothy on from the that's-sure-a-big-towel-you've-got dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The RIAA has thrown in the towel on one of the leading cases challenging its 'making available' theory, Warner v. Cassin, in which the defendant had moved to dismiss the RIAA's complaint. We have just learned that the RIAA submitted a voluntary notice of dismissal before the judge got to decide the defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint. It will be of interest to see if Ms. Cassin pursues a claim for attorneys' fees in view of recent court rulings that successful copyright defendants are presumptively entitled to an attorneys fee award, even if the dismissal came about from the plaintiffs' having 'thrown in the towel.'"

3 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. hmm by thatskinnyguy · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    And thanks to all of the documents of the case being in public now, the government has "made available" to us the counter arguments that were good enough to get this case dismissed. Awesome.

    --
    The game.
  2. Re:Be afraid, be very afraid by mumblestheclown · · Score: -1, Flamebait
    If you are indeed an attorney, you are a horrible one since you apparently lack any understanding whatsoever of legal principle. Though, I will give you some credit - you do show the "lawyer stereotype's" ability to twist arguments and flail and spin.

    Sigh, ok, Mr/s "Lawyer."

    Let's see what you're arguing this time. The previous time, you tried to twist it to claim that I was claiming that sharing one bit was unlawful. i called your lie on that, and now I will call your lie on your next little game. Now, you have dropped the pretense of claiming that it is not unlawful (since you have been shown to be oh so wrong on that - and I didn't even have to bring up Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films do do so), your new ploy is to claim that it's not determinable.

    In other words, you are trying to argue not that it's not unlawful (which it is), but you're trying to argue that it's the perfect crime - that you can't get caught.

    Here, again, you fail. Here you exit the land of "pretend lawyer" and join the fantasy world of "pretend technologist."

    Fine, let's talk about bittorrent. Bittorrent works via what's known as file hasshes. In simple terms, you don't ask for "give me 10kb of some random file", since then you'd never end up with KasierChiefs-Ruby.mp3. Rather, you say "give me such and such 10kb of a file with hash XXX" which you just happen to know is KaiserChiefs-Ruby.mp3.

    See, Mrs pretend lawyer, the very hashes that make bitTorrent work are the ones that make it traceable. It's very much like DNA in some sense - to make a crude but apt analogy - no jury in the world will believe "yes, your honor, but she didn't have so much of my (DNA) on her."

    Now, there are games that bittorrent users can play to "anonymize" themselves - but these are basically IP games like using anonymizing networks which basically shift or distribute IP identities. These make things a bit harder to trace, but this technology is totally different from what you are talking about. what you have described betrays your COMPLETE AND TOTAL CLUELESNESS about how bittorrent works, to say nothing of IP law.

    If you have indeed studied law, you really should be embarrassed.

  3. Re:They are not illegal copies by cdrguru · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    AllOfMP3 "properly licensed" the music they are selling in the same way that I could "properly license" your wife by saying to you I was going to rent her for a week for $1. The, over your protests, I'd just come and get her. And when you failed to collect your $1 that it would be your fault for not accepting my valid offer.

    An offer doesn't make a contract.