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Music Industry Sues Irish Government For Piracy

Posted by samzenpus on from the going-for-the-gold dept.

bs0d3 writes "The music industry has initiated a lawsuit against the Irish government for not having blocking laws on the books; on the theory that if blocking laws were in place then filesharing would go away. On Tuesday the music industry issued a plenary summons against the Irish government which is the first step towards making this litigation possible. This all began in October 2010 (EMI v. UPC), when an Irish judge ruled that Irish law did not permit an order to be made against an ISP requiring blocking of websites. Recently several ISPs across the European Union have been ordered by courts to block thepiratebay.org through legal maneuvers."

14 of 341 comments (clear)

  1. LOL by stanlyb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder what is next? Maybe they will put the government in jail? Or as they represent the irish people, the whole nation should go to jail? ARE THESE GUYS CRAZY?

    1. Re:LOL by niftydude · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well I know cigarette companies have been threatening to sue the Australian government because the government wants to force cigarettes to be sold in plain paper packaged boxes. It's actually been pretty interesting to follow.

      I could probably make a witty comment about the similarities between music labels and cigarette corporations, but everyone knows that they are both scum, so I won't bother.

      --
      You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
    2. Re:LOL by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Of course, you can sue a ham sandwich for being a ham sandwich. Dunno if you'll win - but that never stopped the "music" biz.

      If you can sue the government for not having a law, you can sue for anything. That's pure absurdity. If you can win, precisely because there is no law making something illegal, you can win anything.

      You could probably even win a suit against the government for not ruling you win.

      Obviously any legal system must have either immediate decisions preventing the state from spending more than a second dismissing truly absurd attempts like this one. Better yet, it should allow the time waste, and simply decide in court to not just dismiss the suit, but also permanently ban any lawyer who brought the stupendously frivolous case, and charge damages in the amount of the cost to the government, plus punitive damages to inhibit truly rich fools from just buying up the government's time.

      Then we could destroy the "music" biz, and hordes of frivolous lawyers, at once. Finally some good from the modern "music" industry.

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      make install -not war

  2. What Are They Expecting? by Bob9113 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Gee, government, not fondling the MAFIAA's nuts enough, so they hit you. Now, are you going to say "I walked into a door" and let them do it again, or are you going to man up?

    You know what happens when you give a bully your lunch money? He threatens you for it the next day.

    Know what happens when you give the MAFIAA a yard? They take a mile.

    There is only one way to stop a bully. Stand up to him.

    There is only one way to stop the MAFIAA. Cut copyright to 50 years, and tell them if they don't back the fuck off, you're going to cut it to 20 years.

    --
    Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
    1. Re:What Are They Expecting? by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How about just going back to the original length? 7 years.

      Hell, we can even toss in the additional 7 year extension that you got if you applied, when that extension was added on at a later date.

      If it was enough time for books being carted on horsedrawn wagons to a largely illiterate population to make money, it's enough time for your shit song and dumb assed movie to make money.

      --
      This space available.
  3. Re:The Irish, being a compliant group... by Wowsers · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They could counter-sue the music industry for running an illegal cartel.

    But more likely, based on how things in Ireland work when it comes to votes on the European Union, they could be thrown a token few million here and there, and a law will be passed. They are an easy nation to bribe.

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    Take Nobody's Word For It.
  4. Can somebody correct this for me ? by giorgist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The music industry is suing a sovereign government in a court of law because of a law that does not exist ?
    What next, sue voters for not ensuring their revenue stream ... hang on ... that is what they ARE doing ?!!?

    So in their eyes I can be guilty for not successfully electing a government that ensures their income !!!

    I am painting it every which way to try and make sense of this ...

    I wish we could outlaw lawyers but considering that they would be enforcing that law, it may end the universe H2G2 style and replace it with something more bizarre.

  5. More potential revenue. by cheekyjohnson · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So not only do they blame the pirates themselves (because their actions may or may not result in a loss of potential profit), but they blame people (in this case, the government) who don't try to stop them (because, if they did stop them, they couldn't do something that may or may not result in a loss of potential profit)? I guess everyone's to blame, then. Clearly the people didn't try hard enough to force the government to pass such laws. Sue everyone!

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    Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
  6. Battle of the Book by o'reor · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I don't think the music industry realizes that they're facing a war. And not a simple legal war, a real war with real weapons and casualties too. For, indeed:

    Many hundreds of years before the GPL was even a twinkle in Richard Stallman's eye, an Irish monk proved to be an unlikely champion of the geeky A2K notion of access to knowledge. [...] and they settled things the way they did in those days, with 3000 people getting killed in the resulting battle.

    The full article about Saint ColmCille and his fight for free access to knowledge and Copyleft is available here (PDF).

    (and after all, if those lawyers working for the music industry are serious about that copyright shit, why don't they join the army and fight that battle on the front line, huh ? Hand me a banana bomb, there's a cluster of them coming our way...)

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    In Soviet Russia, our new overlords are belong to all your base.
  7. Re:Get in line... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sorry, U2 isn't an option - they've already moved their publishing business to the Netherlands, after the Irish government capped the tax exemption on artists at a mere €250,000.

  8. Re:The Irish, being a compliant group... by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why not? The Irish capitulated to its private banks without a fight, agreeing to pay all those (largely foreign, largely British) bankers' stupid debts with their taxes for the rest of their lives, sending the Irish people back into the depths of the world's poorest.

    Why wouldn't a new rapist like the "music" business see Ireland's government waving its tattered ass and jump to take its turn? There's still something left to steal, so no time to waste.

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    make install -not war

  9. Re:The Irish, being a compliant group... by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Nice hope. But since Bono and U2 moved their music business offshore from Ireland to avoid paying taxes to the country he says produced him (and of course it did), there's no chance. Bono is the music industry, including the bloodsucking evil part.

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    make install -not war

  10. Why cant.... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A government declare war against a corporation?

    "The Irish government recognizes any employee or person affiliated with the RIAA or MPAA as an enemy of the Country and will be killed on sight. We ask the United states government to allow us to run a military operation and bomb the corporate locations of all RIAA and MPAA operations, their lawyers offices, and anyone that claims affiliation with them."

    They are terrorists just like Al-Quieda, why cant a freedom loving country declare war against them?

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    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  11. Re:The Irish, being a compliant group... by larry+bagina · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Once upon a time two men wanted to get married. There was no law allowing them to get married, so they sued the (state) government. The (state) supreme court eventually decided that the lack of gay marriage violated the (state) constitution's equal protection clauses and ordered the (state) government to remedy that situation.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.