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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?"
So far the only one saying "F... the artists and F... their rights is you."
That's one too many.
E
P.S. F... the RIAA.
It's not the artists' fault if the RIAA wants to keep most of the profits for themselves, you don't see artists suing people for downloading their songs (unless they're called Metallica and are little money bitches), most of the time the artist is just glad people are enjoying their work.
Do you D?
All music sold to and played by minors results in technical copyright violations. Since the RIAA heavily promotes music sales to minors, they are guilty of inducing copyright infringement.
This could be fun.
I'd really like seeing them push the angle about their corporate attempts at controlling world art and culture, turning it into the bland, government approved, Pepsi and MTV generation and focus group designed, placid american/teen idol bands, and flooding us with that insipid product over controlled media.
That's really what the RIAA's fight is about, controlling the media, itself, and thereby the content on it, which is used to market false images and idols rather than any real talent that could inspire, consol or rally.
They're giving up the court battle only because they realize now it's cheaper, and entirely possible if not probable, to buy off the medium itself, once again, by having the willing ISPs in their pockets.
This game will waste your life. Don't clicky!
The RIAA has been swaggering around like they're Jack Bauer for years now, with all the self-justification that goes along with the reference, but instead of chasing terrorists, or even true "criminals" (copyright violation is really a civil law matter, not a criminal law matter), they're chasing down little kids, moms or grandmas who don't even know what BitTorrent or P2P is, let alone consciously making a decision to use it (kids or grandkids in this case), etc.; if they were chasing down Russian mobsters selling knock-off CDs to fund their other illegal activities then I can see some of it, but they're NOT. Even most of the artists they're claiming to protect don't want much of anything to do with them! It's about time the RIAA legal machine was dismantled, and the pieces destroyed, preferably with fire. They're a relic of a time and a business model whose usefulness and relevance has long since past; it's time for the music industry to stop being in denial about it, embrace the fact that downloading of music is a reality, a genie that can't be put back into it's bottle, and stop beating a dead horse.
Oh, and memo to the music industry: Please start backing and producing music that doesn't suck, k? We're sick to death of the crap you've been turning out lately.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
That comment was hilarious - I wish I had mod points for you.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
Actually, this is more bad news for the artists, who will wind-up footing their own lawyers' legal bills. Truly a damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don't squeeze play for something that deserves neither. Hopefully, a lot of great artistic work will come from it, as the seemingly endless suffering should inspire mountains of artistic works.
Actually, why doesn't someone?
An independent film about someone wrongfully persecuted by the RIAA, gets a pro bono lawyer who fights and loses. Then attracts some law students that get a retrial and prevail?
Sounds like it's got promise as a feel good movie.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
Point well taken; I used "Russian mobsters" as an example simply because it's the first thing to come to mind. Honestly, *I* don't even think anybody is really pirating CDs, except on a very small scale; it's another of the RIAA's red herrings, if you ask me seriously.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
.....Think of most of the popular music that is promoted by the RIAA, how little of it has any lasting or enduring value, how much of it does not require a ton of musical talent to write or to perform, and how the lyrical content is mostly immature prattle with no deep spiritual meanings and no ability to challenge its audience to think in new ways. ...
What you ascribe to the RIAA is really a part of our modern Western culture, where nothing lasts very long. It really began when the production of material goods went from one or two at a time in a skilled craftsman's shop to large factories cranking out mountains of identical merchandise. The individual craftsmen's touch on a pair of shoes or a piece of furniture was lost. Modern technology has made it possible for anyone to mass produce art and music in a similar way. Copyright laws must exist only if human creativity, especially in music and literature, is perceived as a commercial product to be bought and sold like any other product. Musicians created their music and painters created their paintings long before anyone had ever thought of copyright. They were content and delighted in having their fellow human beings partake in and be included in the joy of creativity of their art. People with means who enjoyed the art who were not so gifted, took care of the physical needs of these highly gifted ones. These creative artists could put all the effort and creative joy into their work without worrying about where their next bowl of soup was coming from.
A number of years ago I visited the walled medieval city of Rothenburg in Germany. The quaint little modern shops, located in the centuries old buildings, sold modern goods. One of these was a pharmacy, which had a sign above the door that it had been such since 1497. I entered, and indeed it had much of the same merchandise at any pharmacy in Germany might have. However, in a section occupying about a quarter of the store, they had made a little museum of what the store was like and what was offered for sale to the inhabitants of the town at that time. All their potions were individually tailored by a weight to each customer.
All theory is gray
Which is pretty funny considering that Osama bin Laden's brother, Sheikh Tarek bin Laden, and his construction company have very close ties to the Bush family, including of course former Presidents George Herbert Walker Bush and George W. Bush. In fact the more research you do, the more both the "good guys" and the villians seem to all be one big happy family. They are all connected to each other and either know each other or know each other's immediate families. Anyone else think it's just a little, I dunno, odd, that the media hasn't made this common knowledge? I mean, you'd think that'd be newsworthy considering the utter trivia that's tirelessly discussed about other celebrities and public figures.
By the same standard that was good enough to indefinitely detain somebody without charging them with any crime, a certain former President should be at Gitmo, too. That's if we're going to invest so heavily in guilt by association. Intentional or otherwise, we Americans certainly haven't lost our sense of irony.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
OK, I'm curious. Are you actually Russian? Or do you have ties to or contacts in Russia, at least - business, or at the very least personal? Have you ever been there?
I'm just curious, because you seem awfully confident in your knowledge of precisely how things are handled in "Putin's Russia".
Massive layoffs just as consumers are starting to bring litigation against them. Just as soon as they actually need those lawyers...they're gone. With any luck we'll see more countersuits now that people know they're less able to defend themselves.
The irony is obvious if this trend continues. I'd love to see more layoffs and then a freaking gigantic class action countersuit of some kind. Nothing like having to defend against a vastly superior opponent, eh RIAA?
I like where this is heading.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
with douche bag outfits like the RIAA, SCO and Microsoft around, it looks like the lawyers are (as usual) going to do just fine. No layoffs in that "profession"
Not so. Lawyers have been getting laid off in droves. I am sure the RIAA lawyers are, or will be, among them. I only hope their prospective employers read my blog.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
That's why I still listen to the music of the 60's compared to the pap of today.
And that's why the RIAA and its foreign-owned record companies are trying to retroactively extend copyright into perpetuity with the cry, "But think about the artists!"
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
A close personal friend of mine is acquainted with some Russian immigrants (legal, they are legit) who run a small grocery in an ethnic part of Los Angeles. I have met them in person over diner on a couple of occasions and most of my second hand knowledge comes from those conversations. They left during the 1998 Russian financial crises when Russia defaulted on its foreign debt and came to United States to live and make an honest living which was very difficult to do in Russia at that time. I still don't believe that Russia has changed as much since then as people in the west might think, but that is as much as I am willing to say, take that for what you will.
This was because no mainstream American channel would touch that documentary. Can't imagine why not, although I gather the phrase 'we would be crucified if we showed that here' was used at one point. So they released it freely to let the Internet bypass that unfortunate bottleneck.
In case you're interested to see what the media thought you shouldn't, it's right here.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.