Federal ruling a respite from RIAA suits
Stephanie Perry
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: News
At 6:56 a.m. on Jan. 25, 2007, a private investigator, employed by the Recording Industry Association of America, downloaded the Coldplay song "Clocks" from Doe No. 21, an anonymous peer-to-peer user connected to a filesharing program through Boston University's Internet service, according to court documents. Later, the music industry giant approached the school for access to Doe's personal information, ready to nail him with a copyright infringement suit.
Doe No. 21, along with another BU student and a student at the University of Massachusetts, were recently granted some relief from litigation brought against them by the RIAA, as the U.S. District Court in Boston filed a ruling on Internet music piracy last week. In a March 31 ruling by Judge Nancy Gretner, the court quashed RIAA attempts to obtain the identities of these students who the group said had committed copyright infringement through online filesharing programs.
The court ruled that individuals who make music available through peer-to-peer networks may not necessarily be found guilty of copyright infringement, citing the difference between making music available online and actually copying it. Attempts to obtain the names of people using a particular Internet protocol address -- a unique number assigned by a network to its users -- may be overbroad and violate privacy expectations, the court ruled.
"Plainly, 'publication' and 'distribution' are not identical," the ruling states.
"Defendants cannot be liable for violating the plaintiffs' distribution right unless a 'distribution' actually occurred," Gretner said in the ruling.
"Because they are no longer going to be able to put forward against students based on the theory of making available, they're going to have to show an actual copying act," which is "almost impossible," said Raymond Sayeg, a lawyer representing one of the BU Does.
Individuals who share files on a network are "entitled to some First Amendment protection of their anonymity -- albeit limited," the court ruled. Subpoenas that seek the identity of someone suspected of violating copyright laws must be "more than a mere fishing expedition" that asks universities to disclose lists of potential infringers, the court ruled.
Doe No. 21, along with another BU student and a student at the University of Massachusetts, were recently granted some relief from litigation brought against them by the RIAA, as the U.S. District Court in Boston filed a ruling on Internet music piracy last week. In a March 31 ruling by Judge Nancy Gretner, the court quashed RIAA attempts to obtain the identities of these students who the group said had committed copyright infringement through online filesharing programs.
The court ruled that individuals who make music available through peer-to-peer networks may not necessarily be found guilty of copyright infringement, citing the difference between making music available online and actually copying it. Attempts to obtain the names of people using a particular Internet protocol address -- a unique number assigned by a network to its users -- may be overbroad and violate privacy expectations, the court ruled.
"Plainly, 'publication' and 'distribution' are not identical," the ruling states.
"Defendants cannot be liable for violating the plaintiffs' distribution right unless a 'distribution' actually occurred," Gretner said in the ruling.
"Because they are no longer going to be able to put forward against students based on the theory of making available, they're going to have to show an actual copying act," which is "almost impossible," said Raymond Sayeg, a lawyer representing one of the BU Does.
Individuals who share files on a network are "entitled to some First Amendment protection of their anonymity -- albeit limited," the court ruled. Subpoenas that seek the identity of someone suspected of violating copyright laws must be "more than a mere fishing expedition" that asks universities to disclose lists of potential infringers, the court ruled.
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Alan
posted 4/04/08 @ 9:25 AM EST
With humble beginnings as an organization to standardize and watch over the technical complexities of reproducing sound (i.e. the RIAA Curve found on all Vinyl), in modern times they have become a well funded lobbying machine, working with a $27 million dollar annual budget, much of which is supplied by the major record labels. (Continued…)
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