RIAA Face Another Blow In Their Legal Campaign

The RIAA's legal campaign has been fought under the assertion that making a file available for download is the same as infringement of copyright under the copyright act. According to Ars Technica; There have only been a couple of decisions addressing the question so far. One that came down today in Atlantic v. Howell is the biggest rejection yet to the RIAA's "making available equals infringement" argument, as a federal judge has denied the labels' motion for summary judgment, setting the stage for a trial later this year. The latest judgement is a big blow to their ongoing battle against the little guys ... going against soft targets like Mr. Mrs. or Ms. Average, isn't winning them any wars or friends ... they need to go after the big infringers and rethink their approach to IP.

Judge kills RIAA subpoena: making available isn't infringement

Judge Nancy Gertner quashed an RIAA subpoena which wanted the identities of students at Boston University, who were accused of copyright infringement. She said that, contrary to the RIAA's belief, "Merely because the defendant has 'completed all the steps necessary for distribution' does not necessarily mean that a distribution has actually occurred," ... "As noted above, merely exposing music files to the Internet is not copyright infringement." This is a blow to the RIAA's campaign of going after the little guy... for more information read the original article over at Ars Technica

Music, Media & Money

I'm both fascinated and annoyed at many of the approaches the music companies are taking at making money. They bitch and complain about piracy and to be honest they are probably right to certain degree. However, I've been buying music for a long time, and much of my music until about 10 years ago was on vinyl. Every time a new device or media technology is announced, I cringe and think "does this mean I'm going to have to buy all the music in my library again". I've previously bought music on LP's, Tapes, CD's, DVD's and even the odd piece of digital music online and on memory card. I love gadgets like many others, however I can tell you this, I won't be jumping to, or spending a lot of money on new mediums. I'll continue buying CD's and then ripping them to my media players. I'm happy enough with that. Stop re-inventing the wheel ... Frankly I'm sick of spending my hard earned money to make some fat cat music executive or lawyer rich. If you want me to buy music I already have, you've got to offer me a lot more than a new package or a "remastered" version. Invest some money in value added content and pay the artists more ... you media moguls can certainly afford it. In case you're wonder why I'm so pissed I sat down recently and figured out how much it would cost me to replace my record collection at £15 a CD ... I freaked. Think about this a moment ... the record companies sue the hell out of copyright violators and yet when it come to paying the creators of that same music, they drag their heels and cry saying the music business is expensive. Yet the RIAA and other organisations with similar interest have been trying to change the law as regards to royalties so that they dont have to keep paying the creators of the music they're selling. Read this article over at IGN for more, it details that the RIAA recently petitioned Judges to lower the royalties so that the record companies can make more money... For another take on why the MPAA thinks piracy exists read another article again at IGN, it made sense to me.