Friday, December 12, 2008

Second default judgment motion rejected in Atlantic Recording v. Brennan, this time based on defective service of papers

In the landmark February 13, 2008, decision in Atlantic Recording v. Brennan, reported at 534 F. Supp. 2d 278, District Judge Janet Bond Atherton of the District of Connecticut denied an RIAA motion for default judgment on a number of grounds, one of which was her rejection of the RIAA's theory that there could be a violation of the distribution right just by 'making available'. The decision was the first in a string of decisions to reject the RIAA's 'making available' theory, and to apply the principle that there must be an actual distribution to implicate the distribution right.

The RIAA thereafter moved for "reconsideration", participating in a one-sided oral argument. The "reconsideration" motion was denied.

Subsequently the RIAA amended their complaint and moved again for a default judgment.

On December 10th, their second motion for a default judgment was denied, this time because they had failed to make proper service as they had been instructed to do.

December 10, 2008, decision denying motion for default judgment



Keywords: lawyer digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

3 comments:

Jadeic said...

There's nothing quite like beating your head against a brick wall - perhaps it will knock some sense into them...

Dave

raybeckerman said...

Comment was deleted for use of inappropriate language.

Please read comment policies

Thanks.

Alter_Fritz said...

I didn't do it! :-)

But I wonder when the Judge(s) will be so annoyed by the "well-known and respected record companies" lawyers that they hit them en mass with sua sponte Rule 11 proceedings!
Given that organised cri...
sorry, organised music I wanted to say
routinely for example are still violating the "do not join" rulings that were already handed to them by judges in the last few years, it should be an ease for an annoyed judge to punish them.