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RIAA FILESHARING CASE THROWN OUT BY JUDGE
So far, the RIAA has been doing very nicely, thank you, threatening legal action against people for filesharing. Faced with the mighty weight of the four major labels barking angrily at them, it's understandable that people think the best bet is to settle out of court. And if the cases never come to court, so much the better for the RIAA - it only strenghtens their hand.
Now, though, one of their demands for cash has made it into a courtroom, and come to grief almost straight away. The RIAA in the form of Priority Records had hoped to get a quick, lucrative settlement from Candy Chan, on the basis that (it claimed) her daughter had been illegal filesharing. (You'll note, once again, the RIAA's supposed focus on the big filesharers has shaken down a thirteen year old girl.) Instead of folding, Chan contested the action:
The RIAA continued to argue that Ms. Chan was indirectly liable for providing a computer to her teenage daughter. After taking Ms. Chan's deposition, the RIAA moved to add the 13 year old child as a defendant.
Ms. Chan's attorney, John Hermann of Berkley, Michigan, objected, arguing that the daughter was a minor and that the Court would have to appoint a guardian ad litem to protect the interests of the child, before for the child before they could proceed.
Judge Zatkoff was about to announce a judgement in Ms Chan's favour, when - paniced - the RIAA hastily withdrew its action against her. Because, of course, a judgement against the RIAA could have scuppered its nice bit of business of taking cash from parents under the threat of legal action.
However, the RIAA then attempted to introduce a legal action against the kid, calling on the court to appoint a guardian ad litern. Happily, the judge was having none of this.
3 comments:
Whatever people think of the legal position in terms of downloading music, or sharing music if people would prefer...this case is ridiculous.
I don't believe for a minute that this 13 year old was downloading such a volume of material as to be considered an industrial strength downloader. One could argue too, that although it is illegal, that this girl is of a different generation from the record executives behind this. What I mean by this is that she is of the internet generation, and exploring things on the web pirate music, porn, chat rooms, all this kind of stuff is part of growing up in wired societies.
The record industry (or maybe that should read Entertainment Industries, run by multi-national conglomerates ?spelling?)have been far too much in control for far too long! Viva La Revolution!
Lets give music away free, and make musicians (including myself) earn money from playing live.
It could happen. Maybe its not just a dream.
Good blog!
Tom.
Mr. Machett,
i would strongly disagree with your position ... your dream is more like a nightmare. while i agree that “Evil Man” prosecuting a child is disagreeable, i also find your rationalization that the child should be allowed piracy because of her upbringing bordering on the absurd. is a child raised by pickpockets has been exposed to mitigating circumstances but cannot be excused from theft charges.
i have traveled with bands that didn't make enough to buy a house while they existed as a working band but now find their albums are flying off the shelf. would you deny them that reward for public’s late recognition ?
perhaps i should use an example i know more about. forget about the multi national corporations … i am a photographer and filmmaker. i invest thousands of hours and many tens of thousands of dollars in the hope that what i make will be seen and bought. my product is expensive to make and easily duplicated … should I just give up and get a job as a tradesman ? is it an ideal world where artists only invest an amount that they don’t mind losing to pirates ?
is the ideal world really one with out rights to any intellectual property ? why would anyone write software, create fine art, films ...or music ? for fun ? as someone once told me … it is called show business not show art, not show fun but show business for a reason. i might continue to make films but if i can’t recoup my investment sure as hell will scale back. art is fine but, in this world, it costs money to create things and some of us artist can't "earn money by playing live" …got any ideas?
***i would also like to thank the creator of this blog***
Great article, very informative and concise.
Just to go off on a tangent. I received information about a small company about to launch that is supposed to be a mixture of Friendster and eBAY called www.domeafavorbuddy.com Their homepage is still in development but they appear to be running some advertisement campaign based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Anyone know any further details?
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