Oregon Judge Says RIAA Made 'Honest Mistake,' Allows Subpoena

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In Arista v. Does 1-17, the RIAA's case targeting students at the University of Oregon, the Oregon Attorney General's motion to quash the RIAA's subpoena — pending for about a year — has reached a perplexing conclusion. The Court agreed with the University that the subpoena, as worded, imposed an undue burden on the University by requiring it to produce 'sufficient information to identify alleged infringers,' which would have required the University to 'conduct an investigation,' but then allowed the RIAA to subpoena the identities of 'persons associated by dorm room occupancy or username with the 17 IP addresses listed' even though those people may be completely innocent. In his 8-page decision (PDF), the Judge also 'presumed' the RIAA lawyers' misrepresentations were an 'honest mistake,' made no reference at all to the fact, pointed out by the Attorney General, that the RIAA investigators (Safenet, formerly MediaSentry) were not licensed, rejected all of the AG's privacy arguments under both state and federal law, and rejected the AG's request for discovery into the RIAA's investigative tactics."

Comments

Honest?

[Gewalt]

The words "honest" and "RIAA" don't even belong in the same sentence. /sigh

Re:Honest?

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

The words "honest" and "RIAA" don't even belong in the same sentence. /sigh

Yes. Truly amazing. The RIAA lawyer tells the judge that the University will destroy the data if the motion is not granted. Leaving out the fact that the University told him that the data has been preserved. And the Judge "presumes" that that was an "honest mistake"?

Re:Honest?

[CorporateSuit]

Yes. Truly amazing. The RIAA lawyer tells the judge that the University will destroy the data if the motion is not granted. Leaving out the fact that the University told him that the data has been preserved. And the Judge "presumes" that that was an "honest mistake"?

RIAA: If you don't grant the motion, they'll destroy all the data!
Judge: What makes you come to that conclusion?
RIAA: Because that's what we would do!

Re:Honest?

[BlackSabbath]

I'm sorry Ray, but just how does an outside observer not draw the conclusion that the legal system is inherently corrupted? I know you can't answer the question (at least not publicly) and I and many others support your valiant efforts. However, its hard as someone from outside the US to not see your country as just the world's biggest banana republic. Where the law has the appearance of granite and the firmness of quicksand. A legal system whose flexibility is only ever exercised to the favour of power, never the other way. As an amateur student of early American history and the founding of your nation, I just find the underlying hypocrisy galling and the fall of the republic utterly disheartening.

Re:Honest?

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

I'm sorry Ray, but just how does an outside observer not draw the conclusion that the legal system is inherently corrupted? I know you can't answer the question (at least not publicly) and I and many others support your valiant efforts. However, its hard as someone from outside the US to not see your country as just the world's biggest banana republic. Where the law has the appearance of granite and the firmness of quicksand. A legal system whose flexibility is only ever exercised to the favour of power, never the other way. As an amateur student of early American history and the founding of your nation, I just find the underlying hypocrisy galling and the fall of the republic utterly disheartening.

I'm not here to be an apologist for erroneous decisions like this. In my blog post, after reporting the facts, I then wrote this editor's note:

Is it just me, or does this decision make no sense whatsoever? The Judge recognizes that the RIAA's investigation is insufficient to actually point to a copyright infringer, and that the only way to determine that there was a copyright infringement is to conduct a further investigation....but is directing the University, anyway, to turn over names of people who the Court recognizes may be completely innocent?

And I wrote a lengthy article for The Judges Journal, the quarterly publication of the American Bar Association written for the judges' section, for publication in its "Access to Justice" issue, in which I criticized this type of poor judicial work as creating an uneven playing field, and made 15 specific suggestions as to what judges like this needed to do that they were not doing.

The difference between you and me is that I can't afford the luxury of getting 'disheartened'. But I do get angry. And an illogical, indefensible decision like this one ticks me off.

Re:Honest?

[causality]

I'm sorry Ray, but just how does an outside observer not draw the conclusion that the legal system is inherently corrupted? I know you can't answer the question (at least not publicly) and I and many others support your valiant efforts. However, its hard as someone from outside the US to not see your country as just the world's biggest banana republic. Where the law has the appearance of granite and the firmness of quicksand. A legal system whose flexibility is only ever exercised to the favour of power, never the other way. As an amateur student of early American history and the founding of your nation, I just find the underlying hypocrisy galling and the fall of the republic utterly disheartening.

I was just going to make a quick post in which I would say something like "this seriously makes me wonder just how difficult it is to impeach a judge," then I saw your comment. I can say that from inside the US it also looks like the world's biggest banana republic. Nothing is as it should be and this is only becoming more true as time passes.

The reason why I refer to the general public with terms like "sheep" or "sheeple" or "bovine idiots" is because they accept this without question. No threat to their money, their liberty, or their well-being is ever sufficient to prompt them to think critically and stop accepting the party line(s) at face value. All it takes is for the talking heads on CNN or Fox News to frame a phony debate in the form of a false dichotomy and they buy it, so long as the phony debate is nuanced and there's lots of chatter about it. The truth is, if there were any real philosophical differences between the two parties concerning the role of government, it would not take 9 months of campaigning to point them out.

WIth the exception of a very few, no one with any real media presence points out that the only disagreement between the Democratic candidate and the Republican candidate is how to carry out the expansion of the size and power of government. One candidate wants to expand the size and authority of government for reasons A, B, C while the other candidate wants to expand the size and power of government for reasons D, E, F and that's the basis of the election. There is no mention of whether it should be expanded, whether what we are doing now is remotely sustainable and whether continuing down the same path is going to help or harm the country.

What you point out about the legal system is unfortunately just a symptom of a much deeper problem. The real problem is that the media and the economy have become increasingly centralized over the last century and the number of people controlling both could probably all be seated comfortably in a relatively small room. For example, when the news outlets first started talking about the idea of bailing out Bear Stearns, I knew without doubt that it was going to happen, that the false debate and "controversy" only served the purpose of providing the appearance of legitimate dissention because without it, the people might actually wake up and realize that all is not as it seems. Americans need to seriously ask themselves whether they have ever once seen a major decision like this that a) was hyped up in the media and given lots of coverage and b) went against the desires of a monied interest. The sad thing is that not only do most Americans not understand these things, most of them seem like they don't want to understand -- apparently the latest celebrity gossip or sports scores or artificially hectic lifestyles (the new status symbol) are much more important to them. While I think that these people deserve what's coming, it saddens me that many who do not share their willful ignorance are going to suffer as well because everything is global now; there is no more "small and local". I hope that those outside the USA realize that no matter how you feel about Americans, the soverignty of the USA is just about the only thing that is currently standing in the way of a one-world government or a system of 2-3 global factions in the "but Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia" sense and that the USA is not being run by people who act like they want to maintain that soverignty.

Illegal joinder

[l2718]

Several years ago a New Mexico Judge (IIRC) instructed the RIAA to bring further suits against individual defendants rather than join several in one action. For example, there is no accusation here that the various students acted in concert to infringe copyrights -- whatever each of them allegedly did, it was done on an individual basis. Did the University raise this issue with the judge? Does the ruling address it?

Re:Illegal joinder

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

Several years ago a New Mexico Judge (IIRC) instructed the RIAA to bring further suits against individual defendants rather than join several in one action. For example, there is no accusation here that the various students acted in concert to infringe copyrights -- whatever each of them allegedly did, it was done on an individual basis. Did the University raise this issue with the judge? Does the ruling address it?

Well you're certainly on top of the issues. A number of judges, more than a dozen, have held that it is illegal to join the John Does. But the University did not raise it. The tenor of the motion was that they were looking out for the University's interests rather than those of the students.

Never easy, but expensive

[l2718]

Defending a lawsuit is never innocent. Even if you don't owe them anything, you actually have to prove it. The RIAA will trot our "experts" who will testify that their "evidence" shows you are likely to have infringed copyright. To fight this you at the very least need to pay a good lawyer, and will probably need some experts of your own. Even if you have the skills to represent yourself, you can't recover the cost of your own time spent on this [IANAL but I think that the lawyer's guild got a law passed so that people who represent themselves can't collect attorney's fees if they win]. Now add to this the emotional stress of fighting a deep-pocketed corporation and dealing with the judicial system, and you'll see that there's nothing "easy" about being sued.

Discouraged Trolls

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the shittiest FP ever. It's like you people aren't even trying anymore.

It's the economy. We're all worried about being laid off. And job openings for Trolls are few and far between. Why, the RNC just canned a bunch who were originally hired to Troll Digg slamming Obama!

And then there are the McCain trolls picking on his age and anger. They're losing work too because of his poll numbers and the economic worries.

I used to be a Perl troll but then that turned out to fizzle out. I've been trying to break into Python trolling, but then again, it's tough out there. Maybe when I get really desperate, I'll try to get some Apple troll jobs - but they pay shit because, aside from the neo-fanboys, nobody falls for it anymore.

The quality of trolling has gone done horribly too! There was a time when you could create a shit load of comments with something the was actually intelligent - and it was appreciated because it gave the other side a chance and excuse to vent their opinions. Now, it all "sucks", "fags", "you're an asshole", etc... Nothing intelligent. It's sign of our economy. Quality is just going down hill fast!

I have to go back to work. Th RIAA is right! Those kids are stealing music!

What a joke, here is another.

[[cx]]

They probably told him they know all about his stolen Barry Manilow mp3s he has on his laptop in his chambers, justice was served shortly after.

Re:Well, this raises an interesting question...

[Pebby]

It wasn't money. The RIAA offered the judge a 3 album contract to help him finally realize his dream of pop stardom. Look for the debut album, "Judge, Jury, and Executioner" from 'MC Gaveltron' this Christmas.

Re:Discouraged Trolls Vanishing Troll Habitate

[infonography]

It's understandable due to the collapse of bridges across the country that these poor creatures are being driven onto the net.

Hello, I'm Sally Struthers and here at World Troll Outreach we are helping poor unfortunate Trolls become self-sufficient helping them to move up from living under bridges and harassing goatse or netusers by offering hair dye and Elf/Spook ears so they can pass as nerds and get help desk jobs. Surprisingly Grooming standards for both Trolls and Help Desk workers is very similar.

For pennies a day you can help Please act now.

Re:Appeal?

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

Do you know if this is this an appealable order?

Good question. Actually, there's a split of authority on the subject. In several circuits the order is appealable as of right. In at least one circuit, the order is not appealable as of right. I don't happen to know how they would rule in the Ninth Circuit.

Re:Appeal?

[MrNaz]

"it seems like the judge has decided that, whatever the law says, this matter is a waste of their time"

Never attribute to laziness (or anything else for that matter) what can adequately be explained by a bribe, particularly when an organization like the RIAA is involved.