cool pic
im late...but in
They never quit.
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RIAA Sues Another 762 Over File Sharing
Total number of suits filed by the music industry since 2003 exceeds 5500.
Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Friday, October 01, 2004
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) today filed 762 new lawsuits against alleged file traders using peer-to-peer (P-to-P) file sharing services. The total number of such lawsuits filed since September 2003 now exceeds 5500.
Thirty-two people at 26 U.S. universities who allegedly used their university networks to distribute music files on P-to-P networks were among defendants in the new lawsuits filed Thursday. However, the defendants are unnamed. The RIAA filed 744 such lawsuits in late August. In December 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the RIAA does not have the authority under U.S. law to subpoena the names of alleged P-to-P file traders from Internet service providers.
Other Defendants Named
In addition to the so-called "John Doe" lawsuits announced this week, the RIAA last week brought lawsuits against 68 named defendants. Those defendants are people whom the RIAA earlier sued but who declined or ignored an RIAA offer to settle their cases.
The lawsuits against university network users are intended to drive home the message to students that unauthorized downloading has consequences, according to RIAA President Cary Sherman in a statement. "We want music fans to enjoy music online, but in a fashion that compensates everyone who worked to create that music," Sherman says.
Among the universities involved in the latest round of lawsuits are Colgate University, Columbia University, Georgetown University, Kent State University, Louisiana State University, Michigan State University, Stanford University, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Louisville.
The RIAA has now filed 5541 lawsuits against alleged music-file uploaders since September 2003.
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Well I haven't boughten a single CD since this thread began. So screw the RIAA and all the greed that they represent.
I'd rather listen to live performances than pay the RIAA. You get your money's worth at a concert at least... usually.
I totally second that!! I don't mind paying for live performances.Originally Posted by Big Booger
UK music to sue online 'pirates'
Head of the IFPI Jay Berman says piracy stifles new talent
The British music industry is to sue 28 internet users it says are illegally swapping music online.
The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) says it is targeting "major uploaders" - those who make music available to share free with others.
Music file-sharers have been blamed for a decline in world-wide CD sales.
The BPI's actions follow that of its US counterpart which is already suing those it calls the worst offenders. It says more cases are expected to come.
A further 459 alleged file-sharers across Europe now face legal action, the IFPI global music industry body said on Thursday, with France and Austria also targeted for the first time.
US record companies have issued more than 5,700 lawsuits from alleged file-sharers, with many settling out of court.
At the moment the BPI does not know the names of the 28 people it is going after, but is asking the courts to force internet service providers to hand over their personal information.
Plenty of warning
There was an outcry when a 12-year-old girl from New York was served with a lawsuit by the US industry, which was eventually settled by her mother.
The same could yet happen in the UK.
"We don't screen for political correctness. We go on the basis of IP addresses. We do not know who it is, it is based on their internet activity," said IFPI chairman Jay Berman.
IP addresses are used to identify a particular machine using the internet at any one time.
BPI chairman Peter Jamieson said: "We have been warning for months that unauthorised file-sharing is illegal. These are not people casually downloading the odd track.
"They are uploading music on a massive scale, effectively stealing the livelihoods of thousands of artists and the people who invest in them."
Co-ordinated effort
The 28 people being sued in the UK should find out in the coming few weeks who they are, said BPI general counsel Geoff Taylor.
MUSIC LAWSUITS WORLD-WIDE
5,700 in the US
300 in Denmark
168 in Germany
50 in France
100 in Austria
Source: IFPI
Once they have been served with the legal action they will be given the chance to settle out of court. If they do not the BPI will seek damages and an injunction to stop them using file-sharing services.
The BPI warned in March it would take legal action against users of peer-to-peer music services, and has sent more than 350,000 internet message to desktops saying the song-swapping sites they were using were being watched.
The BPI believes a hardcore 15% of file-sharers are responsible for 75% of all illegal music downloading.
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Technology companies and the record industry are nearing a last-minute showdown on Capitol Hill over a controversial bill aimed at quelling file swapping.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and dubbed the "Induce Act," was introduced earlier this year, in large part as a response to court rulings that have said that file-sharing software companies were not liable for copyright infringement by their customers.
A round of negotiations between the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and technology organizations closed this week without reaching compromise, according to people familiar with the talks. As of late Wednesday, Hatch's Judiciary committee was scheduled to vote on a version of the bill Thursday morning. That prospect prompted a flurry of last-minute protest letters from technology and consumer organizations.
"The recording industry (proposals) would effectively put at risk all consumer electronics, information technology products, and Internet products and services that aren't designed to the industry's liking," read one letter sent Wednesday and signed by lobby groups representing technology companies, including News.com publisher CNET Networks. "We urge you not to move forward now."
The issue has become a key rallying point for many in Silicon Valley who fear that the legislation might have impact well beyond the file-swapping world. The result has been a relationship between technology and content companies at its most tense since bitter battles over Hollywood-sponsored antipiracy proposals in 2002.
The RIAA is taking a conciliatory approach toward the technology industry, saying it is solely interested in stopping file-swapping companies that profit from copyright infringement. The group has said it is open to changing the legislation in whatever way necessary to achieve that goal.
"In a short period of time, there has been remarkable progress," RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy said. "A coalition of groups and members of Congress have coalesced around the core proposition that the 'bad actors' deserve to be held accountable. No one is defending the parasitical business model of the illegitimate peer-to-peer networks. The remaining issues are definitional and we continue to work through those."
Rolling back Betamax?
At the core of the RIAA's push--and of much of the technology industry's fear--is an effort to change the way that a 20-year-old court decision affects copyright law.
In 1984, the Supreme Court said that the Sony Betamax videocassette recorder was legal to sell, despite being widely used to copy movies and television shows. The court reasoned that the device could not be banned outright because it had a number of uses that did not involve copyright infringement. That rule, later known as the Betamax doctrine, now protects virtually all products that can make copies as long as they too have "substantial noninfringing uses."
This has proven a key part of the legal defense for peer-to-peer software companies such as Grokster and Streamcast Networks against charges of copyright infringement by the record industry and Hollywood studios. They've said, and federal courts have agreed, that the file-swapping networks can be used for legal purposes despite the widespread song and movie piracy they allow.
However, judges in those cases said that if content companies didn't like those decisions, they should take it up with Congress--and that's just what the RIAA has done.
Hatch and the record industry group have said they want to focus heavily on behavior, rather than on specific technology. They say that the file-swapping companies are "inducing" illegal behavior on the part of their customers and should be held liable for that action.
Technology companies and consumer advocates say this threatens to roll back the Betamax doctrine and expose to liability a wide variety of companies--from Web browser makers to iPod maker Apple Computer.
The senator outlined his goals for the bill in a letter to Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters, who has supported the bill. In the letter, Hatch wrote that he wants a "technology-neutral bill directed at a small set of bad actors, while protecting our legitimate technology industries from frivolous litigation."
Reports from the participants in negotiations this week were mixed. Recording industry sources said that substantial progress had been made, although the parties remained split on how to define peer to peer. Consumer groups said the gap remained wide.
The technology groups pressed Hatch on Wednesday to put a hold on the bill's progress, citing the need for more public scrutiny of the bill's language, which remains in flux.
"Every one of the half-dozen drafts proposed would make fundamental changes to copyright law, with potentially enormous impact on innovation, creativity, and competition," the Center on Democracy and Technology wrote in a letter to Hatch on Wednesday. "Given the short period over which (the bill) has been discussed, the absence of hearings on the new language, and the overall lack of opportunity for the public to comment, we believe it would be in the best interests of all parties to allow a more orderly process to go forward."
If the bill faces a vote as scheduled on Thursday in the Judiciary Committee, it still could be changed before it faces a full vote in the Senate. Participants said that the vote could be delayed at the last minute, however, given the fluidity of the situation.
Congress will return in November to vote on budget bills after the election, and most observers expect the bill to be taken up again then.
In the meantime, technology executives are rallying people to contact Congress to express their displeasure over the bill, which was a hot topic of conversation at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco this week.
HDNet founder and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban summed up the fears of many of the event's attendees. "If you're at this conference, your livelihood is at risk if the Induce Act passes," he said.
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Originally Posted by efc
Orin Hatch is just a sock puppet of the RIAA.. I'm sure the RIAA lined his pockets well to bring their interests before Congress.. what a load of cow poo.
Justices won't weigh Net music lawsuit tactics
Published: October 12, 2004, 8:18 AM PDT
By Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to consider whether recording-industry investigators may use a favorite tactic to find out who may be copying their songs over the Internet.
The Recording Industry Association of America had invoked a 1998 copyright law to force Internet providers like Verizon Communications to turn over the names of customers they suspected of sharing their copyrighted songs.
Verizon had argued that the RIAA must file a formal lawsuit to get customer names, an extra step that they said would discourage frivolous requests.
A U.S. appeals court in December 2003 agreed with Verizon and ruled the RIAA must file anonymous "John Doe" lawsuits to get customer names.
The high court's action is not likely to seriously affect the recording-industry's legal campaign against Internet song swappers, as investigators have sued more than 3,500 individuals since the appeals court ruling.
The Supreme Court rejected the appeal by the recording industry without any comment.
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Posted by PiaOriginally Posted by efc
http://www.techzonez.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12153
=========== Please Read The Forum Rules ===========
Slashdot is reporting that Walmart is demanding lower prices from music manufacturers. They are reporting it as one monopoly at war with another, the RIAA.
I am a big Walmart supporter, so I personally think the premise for this story is wrong. The difference from Walmart and the RIAA is that the RIAA is trying to keep the ability to maintain high prices. Walmart has become a retail giant by passing savings on to their customers.
If this fight becomes public, it will be fun to watch. With Walmart selling one out of every 5 CD's sold, the RIAA/other factions of the music industry, may have to deal. It should be good for the music consumer.
Remember, boycott the RIAA.
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I wished all artists could be independent and yet well-known at the same time. Greedy agents, record companies and the countless middlemen inbetween gobble up nearly every last cent of the $12-24 CD that you buy...
I support Walmart in their efforts, despite the fact that they too put the little man out of business, against the RIAA. Walmart is seriously the lesser of two evils.
By Tony Smith
The Register - Published Friday 29th October 2004 13:37 GMT
The Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) this week filed almost
1000 lawsuits this week, all of them accusing individuals of sharing
unauthorised copies of songs on P2P networks
Some 750 people are unnamed, with 213 more citing alleged copyright
infringers' names. The latter had all received demands to cease their
activities and make some remuneration for their acts, but in each case
the deadline for settlement had passed, the RIAA said.
To date, the RIAA has issued over 6200 lawsuits against named and
unnamed individuals, most recently 762 complaints filed late September.
The first lawsuits were sent out in September 2003.
Earlier this week, it emerged that the RIAA had settled its copyright
infringement action against the operators of Spain-based MP3 seller
Puretunes.com for a total of $10.5m.
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I didn't find a list of names.Originally Posted by Dehcbad25
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