RIAA Sued For Fraud, Abuse, & "Sham Litigation"

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "It's been a rough week for the RIAA as massive layoffs are about to cost many employees their job. On top of that, the anti-piracy outfit is being sued in North Carolina for abusing the legal system in its war on piracy, particularly for civil conspiracy, deceptive trade practices, trespassing and computer fraud in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Moursy. Named along with the record companies as defendants on the counterclaims are Safenet (formerly known as MediaSentry) and the RIAA. This case first started out as 'LaFace Records v. Does 1-38' until the court required the RIAA to break it up into 38 separate cases, at which point it morphed into 'SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Doe.' Only after the RIAA finally got its 'expedited' discovery did it become SONY v. Moursy. And from the looks of things, it has a long, long way to go. The RIAA hasn't even filed its answer to the counterclaims yet, but is making a motion to dismiss them on the grounds of legal insufficiency. Sound like a good investment of record company resources, anyone?"

Comments

Couldn't have happened to nicer people

[gavron]

Thanks for staying on top of it, Ray!!!

Ehud

Re:Couldn't have happened to nicer people

[Bob54321]

Yeah, these guys are heroes. The MPAA should organise a movie to be made about them.

Re:Couldn't have happened to nicer people

[rts008]

The only real pirates, other than the ones from Somalia, are the RIAA lawyers, who are engaged in a racket akin to extortion.

LOL!
I can dress up like a RIAA lawyer next 'talk like a pirate day'! But where to find a vulture to ride on my shoulder? (to replace the standard parrot for 'normal' pirates)

Back on topic:

FIRST AMENDED ANSWER, DEFENSES,
              COUNTERCLAIM, AND
          THIRD PARTY COMPLAINT

[the linked pdf from your blog]

Reading the pdf, it sounds like the Defense is coming out fighting, eyes blazing. I hope they actually have a good case(from the judge's perspective), and the RIAA have unwittingly grabbed a pissed-off tiger by the tail.

Re:Couldn't have happened to nicer people

[CmdrGravy]

OMG ! The Pussy Cat Dolls, it's so like my number one dream to be one of The Pussy Cat Dolls they work like so hard and it's so cool and they are soooo creative and sing so well and they are just like so the best it would be so cool to be A Pussy Cat Doll. I'll be so like so Rich and so Famous and I'd only be picked if I was so like talented and The Pussy Cat Dolls really liked me. OMG it would be so cool !

Re:Couldn't have happened to nicer people

[slashdotwannabe]

I don't know about being ONE of the Pussy Cat Dolls... I'd much prefer to be IN ONE of the Pussy Cat Dolls...

Re:FUCK ARTISTS

[SpockLogic]

Piracy is nothing more than selfish leeches grabbing people's work for free and justifying it by blaming others.

Ah, time to fire up my Bit-Torrent client and then have a stroll through USENET. Thank you for the reminder.

Re:"Music isn't sold it's licensed"

[Kickasso]

crap, looks like a troll has got me. mod me down to pblivion.

crap....

[kribby]

who here knows how to play the world's smallest violin?

Re:W/Regards to layoffs:

[roguetrick]

You're like the asshole who complains about all the innocent contractors on the Death Star!

Re:To quote NOFX...

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

How are large record companies even useful nowadays?

Well they provide quite a bit of employment to some otherwise unemployable lawyers. Doesn't that count for something.