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Appeals Court Knocks Out "Innocent Infringement"

Posted by Soulskill on from the innocent-infringement-has-a-glass-jaw dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "A 3-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has ruled that a Texas teenager was not entitled to invoke the innocent infringement defense in an RIAA file-sharing case where she had admittedly made unauthorized downloads of all of the 16 song files in question, and had not disputed that she had 'access' to the CD versions of the songs which bore copyright notices. The 11-page decision (PDF) handed down in Maverick Recording v. Harper seems to equate 'access' with the mere fact that CDs on sale in stores had copyright notices, and that she was free to go to such stores. In my opinion, however, that is not the type of access contemplated in the statute, as the reference to 'access' in the statute was intended to obviate the 'innocence' defense where the copy reproduced bore a copyright notice. The court also held that the 'making available' issue was irrelevant to the appeal, and that the constitutional argument as to excessiveness of damages had not been preserved for appeal."

9 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. Not really the point by legio_noctis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Whether she was innocently infringing or not isn't really the point because it's fairly obvious that no teenager on the planet who pirates music doesn't know that it's illegal.

    The problem is that she's in court for downloading 16 songs. Randomly attacking people who will find it difficult to defend themselves legally isn't the right way to go about reducing piracy.

    1. Re:Not really the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think it's possible for a teenager (or anyone) to not know that downloading music off LimeWire or other systems is not copyright infringement (or worse, 'illegal'), some examples:

      1) You download an MP3 of a song that you purchased on CD because you need a digital copy for your portable music player and don't want (or know how) to rip the CD yourself. Copyright infringement? Illegal?
      2) Some small artist has a new song that you download. Copyright infringement? Illegal? What if your just mistaken and confused this artist with another small artist that has released their music free on the Internet?

      Of course, if said teenager was downloading a Britney Spears song then it is of course wrong, and they should be harshly punished. If they bought the Britney Spears CD then they should probably be executed.

    2. Re:Not really the point by selven · · Score: 5, Informative

      Hi, I'm a teenager in Canada, which is on the planet. I know that downloading music is legal where I am.

    3. Re:Not really the point by PFI_Optix · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Seriously, the labels needs to start with this:

      "We have evidence that you downloaded X songs (attach a list) for which we own the copyrights. We would like to settle this matter quietly and without legal action. To that end, we would accept a settlement of X * 1.5 dollars in order to resolve this matter. In return, we will arrange for you to have legal digital versions of the songs in question via one of the listed services (iTunes, etc) If you decline this offer, we suggest you retain a lawyer and have them contact our legal department."

      It's simple, reasonable, and only mildly threatening. It carries a modest 50% penalty over the cost per song.

      They should be going after distributors with the big penalties, not the downloaders.

      --
      120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
    4. Re:Not really the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I could get behind this theory if we applied it to other situations - for instance, if the penalty for running a giant bank into the ground so hard that the government had to spend $17 trillion dollars cleaning it up was, say, public execution. But instead what we get is a system that somehow only manages to hand out draconian punishments to the poor and (typically) non-white.

      Steal a set of golf clubs and get three-striked? Jail for life.
      Steal billions of shareholder dollars via mismanagement and outright fraud? Giant "severance package" and a cushy new job.

      Something's just slightly fucked up there....

    5. Re:Not really the point by Idiomatick · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I want to point out that the laws are typically anti-poor not racist these days. We've grown past that i think. It doesn't help to misplace your anger.

  2. Rape. by headkase · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When will it finally be seen that the effect civil law has when applied to criminal cases is really rape? The civil law if I'm not mistaken was for big counterfeiters and other corporations screwing each other over. If copyright is never to be reformed then at least apply criminal law against music file sharers: 24 songs -> 1 CD = $20 = $200 fine, move along. Not $1.92 million rape judgement. And yes, rape is a strong word but so is what American courts are doing to their citizens at the behest of a minority of corporations.

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    Shh.
    1. Re:Rape. by mangu · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And yes, rape is a strong word

      So is "stealing" when applied to copying a CD.

    2. Re:Rape. by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Interesting

      When will it finally be seen that the effect civil law has when applied to criminal cases is really rape?

      Right about the time we start treating it like rape. The belief that enhanced understanding of a problem will stir a people to action is one of mankind's oldest illusions. You must be the change you wish to see in the world, not count on others to "see the light".

      Since you mention rape specifically, let me share a personal anecdote. Of the people I know who have been raped (and I am counted amongst that number), the community response is usually not to go to the police (who are useless and will do nothing anyway) -- it's to get the person to a hospital and checked out, and while that's happening we assemble a bunch of people, find the fucker, and beat him to within an inch of his life. And there's usually a couple of us after that keep an eye on him wherever he runs to, and makes sure wherever he moves, that scarlet letter follows him around. Little birdies, you know. At least that's how we do it in the projects and lower-income parts of town. I don't know how rich people do it. I mean, if you're 19, blonde, white and got C cups or better you've got a chance at getting a conviction... The rest of us, well... Our justice springs from a darker place. And our sufferance is a quieter kind. Very few of us ever see the inside of a courtroom.

      In this, you and I are alike in our common desire for change -- we wish for justice, pray for it, ask those in power to bring it to us, but we get form letters back, with xeroxed signatures on official letterhead. They don't care about you, or me. They care about money. So if you want justice, you either need money, a lot of people who will stand with you... or a gun. I wish it weren't that way, I really do. But when a government ceases to listen to its people, who shout in the night "Please help us!" ... Such actions are inevitable.

      If the legal system offers no remedy for you, and there is no way for peaceful assembly and protest to have any influence upon the institutions which are responsible for the redress of your greviance then our founding fathers made it clear what a citizen's last recourse is: Take up arms. They've broken the most basic of social contracts between a citizen and its government, which is this: In exchange for protection of my person, of my personal interests, and peaceful redress of my greviances, I will in return offer you compensation in the form of taxation, military service (in some countries, but not ours) and will do my best to uphold the lawful principles and standards of my community. When this contract is broken and cannot be mended, the government has sewn the seeds of its own destruction. The justice system is the cornerstone of this negotiation of that contract. If it fails, everything else falls.

      Fight hard to mend it. Write letters to everyone you know. Write to the judges. You don't have to be a lawyer. Just be a person, a citizen, and state as clearly as you can why this must be changed. They are human beings too, just like you. They will listen, even if they do not answer you in kind. Beg them if you must. Do everything you can, and fight until you can't. And when you've done everything you can, when you've put your full force of will behind your actions, you may find that the universe assists in mysterious ways. Believe it or not, human beings aren't fundamentally evil -- just often misled. And most problems have a solution that is peaceful, if only you can maintain the patience and self-respect for your own morality to do so.

      Of course, as I said in my example above, you might have gathered I don't have that kind of resolve. But you might.

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