Friday, October 05, 2007

UMG v. Del Cid, Florida case in which Counterclaims were upheld by Court, has been settled

The Tampa, Florida, case, UGM v. Del Cid, has been settled.

This is the case in which the Court had sustained 5 of the 6 counterclaims interposed by Ms. Del Cid.

The court sustained defendant's counterclaims for

-trespass to defendant's personal property based on the RIAA's having accessed files on Ms. Del Cid's computer without her permission,
-violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act based on the RIAA's unauthorized intrusion into defendant's computer,
-violation of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act,
-a declaratory judgment of non-infringement, and
-conspiracy to commit extortion, since defendant sufficiently alleged "a peculiar power of coercion possessed by Plaintiffs [by] virtue of their combination, which an individual alone would not possess".

Defendant's sixth counterclaim, which the Court upheld, alleged:

Plaintiffs have conspired among themselves and with others to commit the
following illegal acts to further the ends of their conspiracy: (a) use of private
investigators to conduct investigations in Florida against Florida residents,
without license, in violation of Fla. Stat. Chapter 493; (b) unauthorized access to a
protected computer system, in interstate commerce, for the purpose of obtaining
information in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030; and (c) extortion and attempted
extortion in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. 1951.

Ms. Del Cid was represented by Michael Wasylik of Ricardo & Wasylik, in Dade City, Florida.


October 3, 2007, Notice of Settlement*

* Document published online at Internet Law & Regulation

Keywords: digital copyright online 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




4 comments:

Chris said...

Not sure if you would have this information at this time Ray, but do you know if this settlement involves the defendant paying a reduced amount to the plaintiff's or an outright voluntary dismissal?

I'm thinking the RIAA wouldn't agree to pay attorney's fees without a judgment.

Erek said...

What's the difference between sustain and uphold here. My first look at a dictionary says sustain means to uphold.

Greg Bulmash said...

Of course, the final terms of the settlement will not be made public except for the statement that UMG makes the settlement without admitting any wrongdoing. And all sorts of documents that might help other people with their defenses against the RIAA are sealed as part of the settlement.

raybeckerman said...

erek, sustain and uphold are used synonymously...

schwammo and evil_greg....i assume the settlement is confidential....