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FSF Files Amicus Brief In RIAA Case
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The Free Software Foundation has requested permission to file
an amicus curiae brief in an RIAA case, SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, defending the defendant's Due Process defense to the RIAA's claim for statutory damages. In the brief [PDF], FSF cites some of the leading authorities for the defense, including the 2003 decision of the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in Parker v. Time Warner, which held that excessive statutory damages are subject to the same due process test applicable to punitive damage awards by juries. Additionally, the brief cites three district court decisions, including UMG v. Lindor, and two law review articles — all of which deal specifically with Copyright Act statutory damages applicable to infringement of an MP3 file — to like effect."
I understand slashdot's obsession with the RI...really I do. But, don't you think stories like this that aren't really even news are getting a little too much attention? There is no decision, no new case, no new theory--not even the filing of an amicus curiae brief, just a petition to file an amicus curiae brief. Next we'll be hearing what the lawyers are eating for lunch.
...will there be an end to these suits which were claimed to have been stopped long ago or...
Will I be able to cause all of their heads to explode using the powers of my mind?
I just love it when a plan comes together.
Why don't add a brief summary about what your posts actually mean to the non-legal types, rather than this legalese summary each time?
When a whole new army of Good Guys come riding over the horizon, armed with their magical incantations of Facts and Citations, it may not be the end of the movie but the tide of the war may be turning, and it's a part you probably don't want to miss.
A little off topic, but I wonder what if anything the RIAA actually has accomplished from all these years of lawsuits. People hate them, is the money coming in at all? Does it really come down to just the principle of the matter now?
The musings of just another geek and his junk.
"defending the defendant's Due Process defense"
This sentence construction is indefensible!
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
It's nice to see someone go to the effort to file an amicus brief, but why the FSF? Excessive statutory damages for copyright infringement doesn't necessarily seem like something that's in their area of interest (i.e., I can't see how it affects software freedom one way or another). Or is it simply a lawyer at the FSF who happens to be interested? Do organizations often file these kinds of briefs in areas that the organization isn't primarily interested?
Of course this is where you attempt to find some reason why shit you're posting still matters, the whole while thinking the echo chamber you live in in representative of reality.
RIAA is a joke, and you're an even worse joke for wasting so much time posting trivial shit about them that no one who isn't a total loser cares about.
Wow, you run out of Prozac or something? If you don't like what the guy posts then don't read it, or better yet don't waste your time and anger commenting on it.
Sheesh!
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better." - Unknown
There is some true irony here as one of the Plaintiffs in this case who is arguing that such damages shouldn't be limited to a single-digit ratio of actual damages, argued (and won) in an Appeals Court case when they were the Defendant that such damages should be so limited.
Estoppel is the word that first comes to mind here.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
No I don't! The RIAA and MPAA are trying their mightiest to bring down the free exchange of ideas, knowledge, and data that we enjoy over the Internet as well as (with the help of Microsoft and Apple lackeys) control what you can and cannot do on your own personal computer. If you think this is some far off battle on some arcane legal minutiae that will never touch your own life, you are so wrong that there aren't words to describe how wrong you are.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
My grandmother's computer got rooted by Sony.
My cousin got extorted freshmen year of college.
We all need to care about the RIAA.
They will die naturally in 10 years ; but, we
need to help the process along.
GuloGulo, I hope your mother doesn't get rooted
by Sony.
Forgot to check "Post Anonymously" box? :)
You're OK, you haven't quite reached the bottom yet:
http://www.lawschoolbound.net/TO/humor2.htm
Q. When he went, had you gone and had she, if she wanted to and were able, for the time being excluding all the restraints on her not to go, gone also, would he have brought you, meaning you and she, with him to the station?
MR. BROOKS: Objection. That question should be taken out and shot. :-)
Insert
Start putting SONY music CD's in your Windows machines.
If you want your life to be different, live it differently.
No one cares about your personal cause anymore. It's not 2001. No one gives a shit about irrelevant-to-their every day lives legal wrangling, shit guy.... *snip* And finding a few slashtards to agree with you doesn't mean you're right, it means you've lost perspective.
And flaming people for liking certain stories and trying to speak for everybody (when it is obvious they don't like it) isn't? You fucking hypocritical nitwit.
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
"The EFF or some other organization SHOULD be filing an amicus brief. But not me... I'm just some guy." Ray Beckerman (on Groklaw)
Glad to see you changed your mind Ray.
Thanks, but the brief was filed on behalf of an organization... the Free Software Foundation. I was just one of the lawyers.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
That isn't entirely on topic... But you surely are missing the big picture here, and ignoring the reality of who is using who.
Just to be short, Microsoft and Apple have everything to gain here, while RIAA people are a bunch of fools.
Rethinking email