Recording Industry vs The People: 2009

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Canadian copyright infringement suit against RIAA record labels

It will be interesting to see how the Big 4 record labels defend themselves from the Canadian copyright infringement class action which has been launched against them.

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

Monday, December 07, 2009

Court enters judgment in SONY v Tenenbaum

In SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, the Court has entered judgment.

In addition to the monetary award fixed by the jury, the Court also granted some, but not all, of the injunctive relief requested by the RIAA.

Additionally, the Court set briefing schedules for post-judgment motions, and for motions for fees and sanctions.

The Court also issued a ruling explaining its reasoning for dismissing the fair use defense, which (a) indicated that there might be many scenarios under which fair use would be a defense to an RIAA vs. End User p2p file sharing case, and (b) criticized -- at length -- the defendant's lawyer's behavior.

Decision granting in part, denying in part, plaintiffs' motion for permanent injunction
Judgment
Order Scheduling Post-Judgment Motions
Order Scheduling Attorneys Fees and Sanctions Motions
Decision explaining ruling striking fair use defense

[Ed. note. Since the defendant "admitted liability" there really was no legal issue for the Court to decide other than (a) the scope of injunctive relief, (b) the excessiveness of the statutory damages award, and (c) the constitutionality of the statutory damages award. As the Court's ruling indicates, issues (b) and (c) remain open and are expected to be the subject of further briefing. Additionally, the issues of attorneys fees and sanctions are likewise open, and expected to be the subject of further briefing. -R.B.]

Commentary & discussion:

p2pnet.net
p2pnet.net
LA Times
Heise Online (German)
Slashdot

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

Thursday, December 03, 2009

South by Southwest announces first group of music panels: I will be one of the speakers #sxsw

The South by Southwest festival for 2010 has announced its first group of music panels, and my panel -- "Recording Industry vs. The People" -- was among those selected:

"Freshly Picked Music Panels"

Should be a lot of fun. Looking forward to it.

Should be a good opportunity to learn more about what the music industry will look like without record companies whose only business plan is to bring extortionate lawsuits against defenseless people.

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

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Arista v Does 1-16 argued on November 20th

In Arista v. Does 1-16, the appeal from the lower court's rulings was argued in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, on Friday, November 20th.

Decision was reserved.

Briefs:

Brief of Appellant
Appellees' Brief
Appellant's Reply Brief

[Ed. note. I was in attendance. Unfortunately, the argument did not appear to go well, and did not deal with any of the procedural unfairness issues in the RIAA's inappropriate use of ex parte procedures where they could easily provide prior notice through the ISP. See, ABA Judges' Journal Article: "Large Recording Companies vs. The Defenseless : Some Common Sense Solutions to the Challenges of the RIAA Litigations". I was very disappointed that so many important issues were not aired in the argument. - R.B.]

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Monday, November 16, 2009

Attorneys fee appeal in Lava v Amurao rejected by "summary order"

In Lava Records v. Amurao, the appeal by Rolando Amurao from a lower court order denying his attorneys fee motion, the Second Circuit has affirmed the order of the lower court by a "summary order" (an order having no precedential effect).

The Court relied in part upon

Amurao’s pre-suit written admission to the plaintiffs that “[w]e downloaded the songs [in question] through a program called Lime Wire,” Amurao’s subsequent less-than-candid responses to plaintiffs’ discovery requests, and the plaintiffs’ efforts to terminate this case quickly once it became clear through discovery that another member of Amurao’s household, rather than Amurao himself, had, in fact, downloaded the copyrighted materials.

November 16, 2009, Summary Order, USCtApp 2nd Cir

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

Friday, November 13, 2009

Correction: Part of Tanya Andersen's class action dismissed by District Court judge

In Andersen v. Atlantic Recording, Tanya Andersen's abuse-of-process class action, the Court granted the RIAA's motion for partial summary judgment dismissing so much of Ms. Andersen's claims as arise from initiation of an action against her.

The motion did not involve so much of Ms. Andersen's claims as arise from the RIAA's continuation of the action against her. That aspect of her case remains pending.

The basis for the Court's decision was the Noerr-Pennington doctrine.

November 12, 2009, opinion and order granting RIAA's motion for summary judgment dismissing complaint

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Friday, October 30, 2009

Brooklyn Law School backs down; will not voluntarily investigate & "name names"

Brooklyn Law School has modified the position it took the other day, in which it had indicated it was going to actively investigate who may have been downloading MPAA movies or shows, and turn over the names for "enforcement" purposes. It sent out the following email a day later:

From: Announcements On Behalf Of Phil Allred
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 12:08 PM
To: All Users
Subject: [BLS] Update on illegal downloads e-mail notice

Yesterday, I sent out an e-mail regarding the recent spate of abuse notices we have received from our Internet service provider. Under our contract, users are prohibited from downloading copyrighted works. If we knowingly allow such activity to continue without taking action, we risk losing access to the Internet. When we can ascertain the people who are responsible for alleged illegal downloads, we will notify them to cease such activity. We will comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#512 ). Outside of the legal process, we are not obligated to turn over the names of the alleged infringers to copyright holders and will not do so.

Commentary & discussion:

p2pnet.net

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

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Case against SUNY Albany students to be argued in 2d Circuit Fri Nov 20th

In Arista v. Does 1-16, the appeal from the lower court's rulings has been set down for argument in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, on Friday, November 20th, on the 2:00 P.M. calendar (pdf).

The courthouse is located at 500 Pearl Street, New York, New York, and its proceedings are open to the public.

Briefs:

Brief of Appellant
Appellees' Brief
Appellant's Reply Brief

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

Brooklyn Law School investigating its students for MPAA

We have been advised that Brooklyn Law School students have received the following email from Brooklyn Law School:

From: Phil Allred
Date: October 28, 2009 11:49:41 AM EDT
To: All Users
Subject: [BLS] Illegal downloading

This semester we have received several warnings from our Internet service provider that copyrighted movies and TV shows are being downloaded illegally via our wireless network. The Information Technology office is now ascertaining who is doing this. Once we have names of the individuals involved, we intend to give them to the copyright holders for enforcement purposes.

We remind everyone that copyright abuse is illegal and that use of the Internet while at Brooklyn Law School must be in accordance with our published Terms of Service document located at http://www.brooklaw.edu/terms.

Phil Allred
CIO
Brooklyn Law School

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

Monday, October 26, 2009

Both sides file objections to Magistrate Judge report in UMG v Lindor

In UMG Recordings v. Lindor, both sides today filed objections to the Magistrate Judge's October 9, 2009, report and recommendation, which recommended that plaintiffs' motion to dismiss without prejudice be granted without conditions, and that plaintiffs' motion for discovery sanctions be denied.

Plaintiffs' objections
Defendant's objections

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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

RIAA Case Watch List

For those of you who have or want to open PACER accounts, and want to help out in the fight against the RIAA's litigation campaign, here is a watch list of cases which I'd appreciate your monitoring whenever you can.

This is not an all-inclusive list of cases we are watching, but just a select list of cases that need extra watching for various reasons.

If anything happens in one of these cases, please email me the *pdf's. This will be a recurring post, in which cases will be added to and subtracted from the list, so bookmark the permalink near the bottom of this post.

The PACER login page is here. To sign up for PACER go here.

Please look only for documents subsequent to August 9, 2009.

Instructions: Log in. Go to district court, then input case number. Request "docket report". If there is new activity, download *pdf file and email to me. (If you're not sure if it's important enough, email me and ask.) Thanks. -R.B.

RIAA Case Watchlist

District, Case no., Case name

Minnesota: 06-1497 Capitol Records v. Thomas
Oregon: 07-934 Andersen v. Atlantic Recording

Commentary & discussion:

p2pnet.net

Keywords: 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

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Complaint sought to be amended in Fairey v AP, false statements made by plaintiff

In Fairey v. Associated Press, the fair use case involving a painting of Pres. Obama from a photograph, the plaintiff has sought to amend his complaint, on the ground that he had made incorrect statements about the photograph on which his painting had been based.

Additionally, his motion states that he had initially attempted to cover up his mistake, rather than bring the mistake to the attention of his attorneys.

Motion to amend complaint
Proposed amended complaint

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Friday, October 09, 2009

Magistrate denies RIAA motion for discovery sanctions in UMG v Lindor

Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy has recommended that the RIAA's motion for discovery sanctions against the defendant and her counsel in UMG Recordings v. Lindor be denied, and that the RIAA's motion for the action to be voluntarily dismissed "without prejudice" be granted.

The Judge held that "Plaintiffs’ claims concerning defendant’s conduct are largely overstated."

Decision of Magistrate Judge denying plaintiffs' motion for discovery sanctions, granting plaintiffs' motion for voluntary dismissal without prejudice

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

JUDICIAL QUOTATIONS

"[T]he Court is concerned about the lack of facts establishing that Defendant was using that IP address at that particular time. Indeed, the [complaint] does not explain what link, if any, there is between Defendant and the IP address. It is possible that Plaintiff sued Defendant because he is the subscriber to IP address .... As recognized by many courts, just because an IP address is registered to an individual does not mean that he or she is guilty of infringement when that IP address is used to commit infringing activity." -Hon. Barry Ted Moskowitz, Chief Judge, S.D. California. January 29, 2013, AF Holdings v. Rogers
"The complaints assert that the defendants – identified only by IP address – were the individuals who downloaded the subject “work” and participated in the BitTorrent swarm. However, the assumption that the person who pays for Internet access at a given location is the same individual who allegedly downloaded a single sexually explicit film is tenuous, and one that has grown more so over time." - Hon. Gary R. Brown, Magistrate Judge, E.D.N.Y. May 1, 2012, K-Beech v. Does 1-37
"The concern of this Court is that in these lawsuits, potentially meritorious legal and factual defenses are not being litigated, and instead, the federal judiciary is being used as a hammer by a small group of plaintiffs to pound settlements out of unrepresented defendants."
-Hon. S. James Otero, Dist. Judge, Central Dist. California, March 2, 2007, Elektra v. O'Brien, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 1555
"The University has adequately demonstrated that it is not able to identify the alleged infringers with a reasonable degree of technical certainty...[C]ompliance with the subpoena as to the IP addresses represented by these Defendants would expose innocent parties to intrusive discovery....[T]he Court declines to authorize discovery and quashes the subpoena as to Does # 8, 9, and 14" -Hon. Nancy Gertner, Dist. Judge, Dist. Massachusetts, November 24, 2008, London-Sire Records v. Does 1-4
"[C]ounsel representing the record companies have an ethical obligation to fully understand that they are fighting people without lawyers... that the formalities of this are basically bankrupting people, and it's terribly critical that you stop it...." -Hon. Nancy Gertner, Dist. Judge, Dist. Massachusetts, June 17, 2008, London-Sire v. Does 1-4
"Rule 11(b)(3) requires that a representation in a pleading have evidentiary support and one wonders if the Plaintiffs are intentionally flouting that requirement in order to make their discovery efforts more convenient or to avoid paying the proper filing fees. In my view, the Court would be well within its power to direct the Plaintiffs to show cause why they have not violated Rule 11(b) with their allegations respecting joinder. [I]t is difficult to ignore the kind of gamesmanship that is going on here.....These plaintiffs have devised a clever scheme... to obtain court-authorized discovery prior to the service of complaints, but it troubles me that they do so with impunity and at the expense of the requirements of Rule 11(b)(3) because they have no good faith evidentiary basis to believe the cases should be joined." -Hon. Margaret J. Kravchuk, Magistrate Judge, District of Maine, January 25, 2008, Arista v. Does 1-27, 2008 WL 222283, modified Oct. 29, 2008
"[N]either the parties' submissions nor the Court's own research has revealed any case holding the mere owner of an internet account contributorily or vicariously liable for the infringing activities of third persons.....In addition to the weakness of the secondary copyright infringement claims against Ms. Foster, there is a question of the plaintiffs' motivations in pursuing them..... [T]here is an appearance that the plaintiffs initiated the secondary infringement claims to press Ms. Foster into settlement after they had ceased to believe she was a direct or "primary" infringer." -Hon. Lee R. West, District Judge, Western District of Oklahoma, February 6, 2007, Capitol v. Foster, 2007 WL 1028532
"[A]n overwhelming majority of cases brought by recording companies against individuals are resolved without so much as an appearance by the defendant, usually through default judgment or stipulated dismissal.....The Defendant Does cannot question the propriety of joinder if they do not set foot in the courthouse." -Hon. S. James Otero, Central District of California, August 29, 2007, SONY BMG v. Does 1-5, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2535
"Plaintiffs are ordered to file any future cases of this nature against one defendant at a time, and may not join defendants for their convenience."
-Hon. Sam Sparks and Hon. Lee Yeakel, District Judges, Western District of Texas, November 17, 2004, Fonovisa v. Does 1-41, 2004 ILRWeb (P&F) 3053
"The Court is unaware of any other authority that authorizes the ex parte subpoena requested by plaintiffs."
-Hon. Walter D. Kelley, Jr., District Judge, Eastern District of Virginia, July 12, 2007, Interscope v. Does 1-7, 494 F. Supp. 2d 388, vacated on reconsideration 6/20/08
"Plaintiffs contend that unless the Court allows ex parte immediate discovery, they will be irreparably harmed. While the Court does not dispute that infringement of a copyright results in harm, it requires a Coleridgian "suspension of disbelief" to accept that the harm is irreparable, especially when monetary damages can cure any alleged violation. On the other hand, the harm related to disclosure of confidential information in a student or faculty member's Internet files can be equally harmful.....Moreover, ex parte proceedings should be the exception, not the rule."
-Hon. Lorenzo F. Garcia, Magistrate Judge, District of New Mexico, May 24, 2007, Capitol v. Does 1-16, 2007 WL 1893603
"'Statutory damages must still bear some relation to actual damages." Hon. Michael J. Davis, Dist. Judge, U.S.District Court, Dist. Minnesota, January 22, 2010, Capitol Records v. Thomas-Rasset
"[T]his court finds that defendants' use of the same ISP and P2P networks to allegedly commit copyright infringement is, without more, insufficient for permissive joinder under Rule 20. This court will sever not only the moving defendants from this action, but all other Doe defendants except Doe 2."
-Hon. W. Earl Britt, District Judge, Eastern District of North Carolina, February 27, 2008, LaFace v. Does 1-38, 2008 WL 544992
"[L]arge awards of statutory damages can raise due process concerns. Extending the reasoning of Gore and its progeny, a number of courts have recognized that an award of statutory damages may violate due process if the amount of the award is "out of all reasonable proportion" to the actual harm caused by a defendant's conduct.[T]hese cases are doubtlessly correct to note that a punitive and grossly excessive statutory damages award violates the Due Process Clause....."Hon. Marilyn Hall Patel, Dist. Judge, N.D. California, June 1, 2005, In re Napster, 2005 US DIST Lexis 11498, 2005 WL 1287611
"[P]laintiffs can cite to no case foreclosing the applicability of the due process clause to the aggregation of minimum statutory damages proscribed under the Copyright Act. On the other hand, Lindor cites to case law and to law review articles suggesting that, in a proper case, a court may extend its current due process jurisprudence prohibiting grossly excessive punitive jury awards to prohibit the award of statutory damages mandated under the Copyright Act if they are grossly in excess of the actual damages suffered....."-Hon. David G. Trager, Senior District Judge, Eastern Dist. New York, November 9, 2006, UMG v. Lindor, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83486, 2006 WL 3335048
"'[S]tatutory damages should bear some relation to actual damages suffered'....(citations omitted) and 'cannot be divorced entirely from economic reality'". -Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin, Dist. Judge, Southern Dist. New York, August 19, 2008, Yurman v. Castaneda
"The Court would be remiss if it did not take this opportunity to implore Congress to amend the Copyright Act to address liability and damages in peer to peer network cases.... The defendant is an individual, a consumer. She is not a business. She sought no profit from her acts..... [T]he damages awarded in this case are wholly disproportionate to the damages suffered by Plaintiffs." -Hon. Michael J. Davis, District Judge, Dist. Minnesota, September 24, 2008, Capitol v. Thomas
"If there is an asymmetry in copyright, it is one that actually favors defendants. The successful assertion of a copyright confirms the plaintiff's possession of an exclusive, and sometimes very valuable, right, and thus gives it an incentive to spend heavily on litigation. In contrast, a successful defense against a copyright claim, when it throws the copyrighted work into the public domain, benefits all users of the public domain, not just the defendant; he obtains no exclusive right and so his incentive to spend on defense is reduced and he may be forced into an unfavorable settlement." US Court of Appeals, 7th Cir., July 9, 2008, Eagle Services Corp. v. H20 Industrial Services, Inc., 532 F.3d 620
"Customers who download music and movies for free would not necessarily spend money to acquire the same product.....RIAA’s request problematically assumes that every illegal download resulted in a lost sale."
-Hon. James P. Jones, Dist. Judge, Western Dist. Virginia, November 7, 2008, USA v. Dove