Supreme Court May Tune In To Music Download Case

droopus writes "The US Supreme Court is weighing into the first RIAA file-sharing case to reach its docket, requesting that the music labels' litigation arm respond to a case testing the so-called 'innocent infringer' defense to copyright infringement. The case pending before the justices concerns a federal appeals court's February decision ordering a university student to pay the Recording Industry Association of America $27,750 — $750 a track — for file-sharing 37 songs when she was a high school cheerleader. The appeals court decision reversed a Texas federal judge who, after concluding the youngster was an innocent infringer, ordered defendant Whitney Harper to pay $7,400 — or $200 per song. That's an amount well below the standard $750 fine required under the Copyright act. Harper is among the estimated 20,000 individuals the RIAA has sued for file-sharing music. The RIAA has decried Harper as 'vexatious,' because of her relentless legal jockeying."

Comments

Re:Look

[shadowfaxcrx]

That's where the "reasonably prudent" test comes into effect.

A reasonably prudent individual is going to know that making free copies of something that someone else created and is selling is wrong, just as a reasonably prudent person doesn't need to have the intricacies of the criminal code explained to them in order to know they shouldn't peer into the neighbor girl's window with binoculars.

That said, the malicious prosecutions by RIAA/MPAA have gone far over the top, and the underhanded and, frankly, illegal investigation tactics they employ should get most of these cases tossed out of court.

Re:Look

[BitZtream]

As filesharing becomes easier on the user's end, how is a new/naive/young user supposed to know it's illegal?

Oh I don't know ... the same way kids have been taught that stealing is wrong for the past few thousand years, whats so hard to figure out about that one?

Do you let a kid drive a car without explaining the rules to them? Why the fuck are you letting a kid use a computer, with wide open access to EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD without teaching him/her whats right/wrong and whats safe/unsafe?

Its called parenting.