MetaFilter posts tagged with RIAA and law

Illegal Download =/= Lost Sale

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:01:25 -0800

"[A]lthough it is true that someone who copies a digital version of a sound recording has little incentive to purchase the recording through legitimate means, it does not necessarily follow that the downloader would have made a legitimate purchase if the recording had not been available for free," said US District court Judge James P. Jones, in response to the RIAA's request for restitution against the former admin of Elite Torrents, Daniel Dove, who has already been found guilty of conspiracy and felony copyright infringement. The RIAA's request for restitution claimed that each download was equal to a lost sale. Judge Jones disagreed, and in part of his ruling stated:

"It is a basic principle of economics that as price increases, demand decreases. Customers who download music and movies for free would not necessarily spend money to acquire the same product. I am skeptical that customers would pay $7.22 or $19 for something they got for free. Certainly 100% of the illegal downloads through Elite Torrents did not result in the loss of a sale, but both Lionsgate and RIAA estimate their losses based on this faulty assumption."

File sharers should nonetheless be wary of opening the champagne just yet.

The best defense is a good offense

mullingitover — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:05:12 -0800

Internet television host Revision3 was the victim of a denial of service attack this weekend. The source of the attack? None other than RIAA and MPAA-funded MediaDefender.

Life Imitates Satire

Chinese Jet Pilot — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:27:45 -0800

In the increasingly surreal battle between the RIAA and music listeners, reality and satire can be hard to discern.

Down the memory hole

blacklite — Tue, 15 May 2007 23:24:45 -0800

Gonzales pushes plan to criminalize copyright infringement, making it punishable by life imprisonment; to increase wiretaps; and to require Homeland Security to notify the RIAA in certain circumstances. "To meet the global challenges of IP crime." I'd comment on this, but I'm afraid that someone might think I was copying someone else. The Intellectual Property Protection Act (official press release) appeared previously in a speech (2005) and as a draft (2006) - now the Justice department is pushing Congress to bring it forward. [newsfilter]

DJ Drama - artists' friend, RIAA foe

caddis — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 07:25:01 -0800

Make a mixtape highlighting a young artist, have that artist proclaim his delight about the project on the CD, reignite that artist's career, repeat, then, the RIAA has you arrested for counterfieting. The RIAA continues its vain struggle to understand the new music economy. In the meantime, at least one company gets it, offering DRM-free CD downloads of obscure titles.

Still crazy after all these years

Protocols of the Elders of Awesome — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 14:12:29 -0800

The RIAA would like to remind you that copying purchased music to your iPod is illegal without first gaining permission from the copyright holder. Thank you.

P2P Senate Committee Hearing

nthdegx — Wed, 01 Oct 2003 05:25:23 -0800

U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. Privacy & Piracy: The Paradox of Illegal File Sharing on Peer-to-Peer Networks and the Impact of Technology on the Entertainment Industry. View the hearing of September 29. [Real Media].

PR for Dummies: Never Sue Your Customers

jonson — Wed, 25 Jun 2003 10:50:21 -0800

Sheer Nuttiness... According to the Washington Post, the RIAA is following up on the successful suit to force Verizon to identify four file traders, with a series of mass-lawsuits targeting potentially hundreds of file traders. With 57 million active file traders in the P2P networks alone, this is the beginning of an ugly new future.

Orrin Hatch, your Big Brother

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 17 Jun 2003 16:43:56 -0800

Senator Orrin Hatch [R-Utah] , chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, favors legislation allowing copyright holders to remotely destroy the computers of illegal file traders. Hatch, an accompished songwriter in his own right, is quoted as saying that damaging someone's computer "...may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights." Apparently the good Senator is forgetting that our legal system is based on the presumption of innocence.

Copyright a-go-go

dirtylittlemonkey — Thu, 12 Jun 2003 07:29:10 -0800

Lessig and the RIAA's Matt Oppenheim This great Q&A between two very well spoken opponents in the copyright wars answers (very clearly) many of the questions that have stemmed from the ongoing erosion of the public domain by copyright law and the degradation of the music industry by file swappers. I was struck by how straight many of the answers were... a fascinating read

Music Industry looses in court

thedailygrowl — Fri, 25 Apr 2003 20:42:20 -0800

Federal judge rules Morpheus, Grokster not liable for Internet piracy. Well that is until the big pocketed music industry finds a favorable judge and wins the appeal.

Maxor — Sat, 17 Aug 2002 10:03:46 -0800

This new RIAA lawsuit really frosts my cookies! I can't believe the Recording Industry Ass. of America has the balls to think they can censor the Internet, but they contend that "As a matter of fact, copyright itself was written into the Constitution before the Framers ever even got to the first 10 amendments." Therefore, the RIAA reserves for itself the right to determine which Internet websites you may view. Please discuss.

magullo — Fri, 18 Jan 2002 09:11:51 -0800

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!! A bit of a repeat, but absolutely justified

riffola — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 15:07:07 -0800

Copy protection for CDs does not have future says Philips. Philips spokesperson Klaus Petri, speaking to Reuters, says its company counts on the fact that the refusal of consumers will convince the music industry to step back from copy-protected CD's. Petri said that Philips could sue the manufacturers of CD's with copy protection (as managers of the world-wide CD patents), because they would not correspond to the standards. "those are silver disks with music on them, but which do not resemble CD's". [via Neowin.net]

Maxor — Mon, 15 Oct 2001 09:22:03 -0800

The RIAA wants to hack your computer (via Fark ) The RIAA tried to attach a rider to the anti-terrorism bill currently in Congress that would have allowed them to hack anyone's computer without consequence. One more reason why the RIAA is evil.

goto11 — Fri, 16 Mar 2001 06:05:38 -0800

RIAA reverses its position when it is beneficial to them. Not like this is surprising or anything, but its just so blatant. The irony is getting pretty thick around here.

Mick — Mon, 22 May 2000 10:30:37 -0800

An interview with the lawyers from Napster and Metellica. Good points, both.