Friday, January 16, 2009

In Maverick Recording v. Harper, both sides appeal

In Maverick Recording v. Harper, the San Antonio, Texas, case in which the Judge granted summary judgment to the RIAA, but found that the "innocent infringement" defense required a trial, both sides have appealed.

Defendant's Notice of Appeal
Plaintiffs' Notice of Appeal

[Ed. note. It is unclear what basis the RIAA would have to appeal, since the Court gave the RIAA the opportunity for a trial, and the RIAA opted instead to accept $200 per song file. Normally a party cannot appeal from its own voluntary act.]

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6 comments:

derivative said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Can someone explain what the defendant is appealing here? Is she appealing for or against the summary judgement?

I thought they had it settled a while back for either $200 per act or a jury trial and the RIAA opted for the $200 per act.

raybeckerman said...

A comment was deleted because it contained a false description of the decision granting summary judgment. The judge granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs and held that the only factual issue was the innocent infringement issue. He offered the RIAA the opportunity to go to trial, or to accept $200 per song file. The RIAA chose to accept $200 per song file.

The ONLY issue that is appealable from the RIAA's perspective is whether the judge erred in finding that there were factual issues regarding innocent infringement. There is no way they can win on that issue.

Alter_Fritz said...

But Ray, it was that they had what my suboptimal english would call a "Aber nur wenn.." a conditional point in their last filing where they accepted the deal.

They said: Should Defendant appeal the summary judgment rulings and obtain a reversal that results in a trial on liability, Plaintiffs reserve the right to seek a higher statutory amount.
WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs move for entry of Judgment against Defendant in the amount of $7,400.


You want to say with your opinion There is no way they can win on that issue. that there is no such thing as a "RIAA -we change our minds regarding agreements as we please- law" in your lawbooks that would explain their move in this case?

raybeckerman said...

As I said:

The ONLY issue that is appealable from the RIAA's perspective is whether the judge erred in finding that there were factual issues regarding innocent infringement.

and

There is no way they can win on that issue.

Alter_Fritz said...

thanks Ray for clarification.

Spoken like a true lawyer you have ;-)


P.S. Word verification: "whine" and i'm not even a RIAA shil commenter!