Obama Administration Mulls Constitutionality of Copyright Act, Wired, 2/19/09

Via Wired, Obama Administration Mulls Constitutionality of Copyright Act:

"In a few weeks, we'll likely know the Obama administration's position on whether it supports hefty monetary awards in file sharing litigation brought by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The Bush administration's position was clear. It supported the Copyright Act's penalties of up to $150,000 per infringed song.

"Congress acted reasonably in crafting the current incarnation by ensuring that it serves both a compensatory and deterrent purpose. Congress established a damages range that provides compensation for copyright owners in a regime in which actual damages are hard to quantify," the Bush administration wrote in 2007...

The minimum penalty under the Copyright Act equals a ratio of about 750 times the actual injury, assuming the value of a single music track costs $1 to purchase. Rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts say financial punishments exceeding a 9-to-1 ratio are unconstitutional."

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/02/obama-administr.html

RIAA pulls out of John Doe cases involving college students, Ars Technica, 1/19/09

Via Ars Technica, RIAA pulls out of John Doe cases involving college students:

"With these and other cases being wrapped up, there are only a couple of high-profile remnants of the industry's war against P2P users left on the agenda. One is the scheduled retrial of Jammie Thomas later this year; the other is the case against Joel Tenenbaum, who is being represented by Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson and a host of students. The RIAA feels confident about the evidence it has in the Thomas case and its chances for a victory in a second trial, but whether it has the stomach to actually go through with it remains to be seen. The Tenenbaum case is shaping up to be another PR nightmare with the RIAA, as Nesson recently convinced the presiding judge to stream the court proceedings online, a decision the RIAA is anxious to see overturned."

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090119-riaa-pulls-out-of-john-doe-cases-involving-college-students.html

Trial transcript of Capitol Records v. Jammie Thomas now available online, Ray Beckerman's Recording Industry vs. The People Blog, 12/28/08

Via Ray Beckerman's Recording Industry vs. The People Blog: Trial transcript of Capitol Records v. Jammie Thomas now available online:

"We are pleased to announce that the complete transcript of the Duluth, Minnesota, jury trial, which took place October 2, 2007, to October 4, 2007, in Capitol Records v. Thomas, is now available online:

Transcript, October 2, 2007, pp. 1-278

Transcript, October 3, 2007, pp. 280-543

Transcript, October 4, 2007, pp. 544-643"

http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html#259200380767823862

RIAA appeal in Jammie Thomas case refused, Ars Technica, 12/29/08

Via Ars Technica: RIAA appeal in Jammie Thomas case refused:

"Saying that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals was quite clear on the matter, [federal judge Michael] Davis refused to allow the appeal in a December 23rd order. "While Plaintiffs can point to a number of courts from other jurisdictions that have disagreed with this Court's conclusion," he wrote, "the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has explicitly held that actual distribution is required."

With the "interlocutory" appeal denied, the RIAA will have to wait until a final judgment has been issued before filing an appeal. That means a complete retrial first; given the RIAA's new moves toward "graduated response" deals with ISPs and the cessation of its widespread legal campaign, it's not clear that the industry will be willing to gear up for yet another high-profile trial against Thomas."

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081229-riaa-appeal-in-jammie-thomas-case-refused.html

Music Industry Drops Effort to Sue Song Swappers, Via New York Times, 12/19/08

Via New York Times: Music Industry Drops Effort to Sue Song Swappers:

"''We're at a point where there's a sense of comfort that we can replace one form of deterrent with another form of deterrent,'' said RIAA Chairman and Chief Executive Mitch Bainwol...

The group says it will still continue to litigate outstanding cases, most of which are in the pre-lawsuit warning stage, but some of which are before the courts.

The decision to press on with existing cases drew the ire of Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson, who is defending a Boston University graduate student targeted in one of the music industry's lawsuits.

''If it's a bad idea, it's a bad idea,'' said Nesson. He is challenging the constitutionality of the suits, which, based on the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999, can impose damages of $150,000 per infringement, far in excess of the actual damage caused...

Brian Toder, a lawyer with Chestnut & Cambronne in Minneapolis, who defended single mother Jammie Thomas in a copyright suit filed by the RIAA, said he is also set to retry the case March 9 after a judge threw out a $222,000 decision against her.

''I think it's a good thing that they've ended this campaign of going after people,'' Toder said.

''But they need to change how people spend money on records,'' he said. ''People like to share music. The Internet makes it so easy. They have to do something to change this business model of theirs.''

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/19/technology/AP-Music-Downloading-Lawsuits.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

No ISP Filtering Under New RIAA Copyright Strategy, Via Wired.com, 12/19/08

Via Wired.com: No ISP Filtering Under New RIAA Copyright Strategy:

"The Recording Industry Association of America on Friday announced a new strategy in its quest to curtail online copyright infringement — a plan that for now requires no filtering from internet service providers...

Under the new proposal, instead of filing lawsuits against individuals its investigators detect sharing music online, the RIAA will send notices to ISPs pointing out the offending parties' IP addresses. The ISPs, in turn, will notify (.pdf) the alleged offender in the United States by snail-mail or e-mail of the alleged violations. Violators could lose internet access after three or more alleged violations, said Cara Duckworth, an RIAA spokeswoman. (The details are still being hashed out, but Duckworth said a procedure would be put in place to administratively challenge violations.)"

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/no-isp-filterin.html

Retrial Date Set in RIAA v. Thomas - Wired.com, 10/30/08

Via Wired.com: Retrial Date Set in RIAA v. Thomas:

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/retrial-date-se.html

RIAA Decries Texas Woman as 'Vexatious' for Demanding File Sharing Trial - Wired.com, 10/17/08

RIAA Decries Texas Woman as 'Vexatious' for Demanding File Sharing Trial:

"The RIAA has agreed to accept $200 per track instead of the usual base of $750 under the Copyright Act because the woman is claiming an innocent infringement defense. The Copyright Act, which carries penalties of up to $150,000 per track, allows penalties as low as $200 for innocent infringement defenses — in this case a teenager claiming she was clueless about what she was doing."
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/riaa-decries-te.html

RIAA Appeals Jammie Thomas Mistrial - Wired.com, 10/15/08

RIAA Appeals Jammie Thomas Mistrial:

"The Recording Industry Association of America is appealing last month's decision in the Jammie Thomas case in which a judge declared a mistrial in the nation's only RIAA file sharing case to go to trial.

On Sept. 24, a Minnesota federal judge overturned a $222,000 judgment levied against the mother of three after concluding he erroneously told jurors that they could ding Thomas for copyright infringement solely for making copyrighted music available on the Kazaa file sharing network."
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/riaa-appealing.html

Thomas Mistrial Decision Bolsters RIAA Litigation - Wired.com, 9/25/08

Thomas Mistrial Decision Bolsters RIAA Litigation:
"At first glance, the decision appeared to have deflated the RIAA's legal position, (.pdf) which has helped it prevail in almost every one of its 30,000 cases –- most all of which have settled out of court.
But almost in passing, Judge Davis said that the music files the RIAA investigators allegedly downloaded from Thomas' share folder on Kazaa "can form the basis of an infringement claim."
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/despite-thomas.html

$222,000 Copyright Infringement Damage Award for RIAA Against Jammie Thomas Overturned - ars technica, 9/24/08

Thomas verdict overturned, making available theory rejected:
"A federal judge has overturned the $222,000 copyright infringement verdict against Jammie Thomas, striking a huge blow to the RIAA's pet legal theory that making a file available over a P2P network is copyright infringement. He also calls on Congress to fix the Copyright Act so that the RIAA can't get six-figure judgments for P2P use."
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080924-thomas-verdict-overturned-making-available-theory-rejected.html