Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Unusual Late Submissions by RIAA in Further Support of their MediaSentry Protective Order Motion in UMG v. Lindor

The RIAA's lawyers took the highly unusual step of submitting "further authority" to the Magistrate Judge, after the briefing had closed and after the oral argument had taken place, in connection with the RIAA's protective order motion in UMG v. Lindor to declare the RIAA's agreements with MediaSentry to be "privileged":

December 12, 2006, Letter of Richard L. Gabriel*
Attachment (Direct TV v. Trone, 209 F.R.D. 455, C. D. Cal. 2002)*

Ms. Lindor's attorneys attacked the move:

I am astonished that some two and a half months after making their protective order motion, a month after filing their reply papers, and twelve (12) days after the oral argument of their protective order motion, plaintiffs have taken the highly irregular step of submitting to the court a post-argument submission of a four-year-old published case, one which, astonishingly, (a) relates to no argument either side has made, and (b) is totally inapposite in any event. This can only be attributed to an awareness that all of the arguments they have made to date are entirely frivolous. Unfortunately for them, this new “argument” is equally frivolous.

The case which plaintiffs find so compelling, DirectTV, Inc. v. Trone, 209 F.R.D. 455 (C.D. Cal. 2002), has nothing whatsoever to do with the issues that are before the Court, and contains nothing which the Court and counsel did not already know.
December 12, 2006, Letter of Ray Beckerman*

* Document published online at Internet Law & Regulation

Keywords: digital copyright online download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

On top of all the lawsuits that continue to pile by the RIAA, they want to cut royalties for artists. What in the world are these people thinking?!

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/8218.cfm

Anonymous said...

They have to make money somehow.