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Napster Being Sued by RIAA
Posted by
Hemos
on Wed Dec 08, 1999 06:52 AM
from the enter-the-legal-guns dept.
from the enter-the-legal-guns dept.
Jason R was the first to write with legal battle news that the RIAA [?] has filed a lawsuit against the company that makes the Napster. They are seeking damages of up to $100,000 per pirated song - Napster says that their software exchanges no files, and that they are not legally responsible for any pirating done.
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Napster Being Sued by RIAA
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Semi-related (Score:3)
I thought that was kind of a trip - the 'artists' associations are causing more flack than the record labels.
Kind of a trip.
Like trying to hold back the ocean (Score:3)
I have no doubt that the lawsuits will come to some conclusion, someone will cease and desist, and some lawyer will get paid. But what's real interesting is that you can't sue everybody, and I'm sure someone will fill the void once iCrave and Napster are gone. What's the broadcast status quo going to do then?
Re:Pirated MP3's (Score:4)
Didn't a similar case come up with Lycos' MP3 search engine? (Lycos [lycos.com]) that never went anywhere? Same argument - they aren't breaking the law, but simply supplying tools that could be used to break the law. You can't sue for that - you'd have to sue makers of hammers, guns, and anything else used by criminals.
This one will have to be looked at closely (Score:3)
So, is MAME legal, or is MAME a contributory copyright infrigement?
This case seems to me very similar. Napster can as easily be used for legal and illegal purposes. Most people use it for illegal purposes, but that does not mean it is the primary target of the developers. So the results of this suit is going to have a farther reaching impact than only mp3.
OG.
the RIAA said it themselves.. (Score:5)
//rdj
Missing the point... (Score:5)
There are more than one reason to initiate a lawsuit. If Napster doesn't have the resources to fight a challenge by the RIAA, then the RIAA wins -- by default!
The RIAA has nothing to lose with this lawsuit. If Napster has good legal representation, then the RIAA will notice this and will probably back down, or come up with some sort of "settlement" that neither party will be able to divulge to anybody else.
This is just a classic case of the big corporation stepping on a little guy: look at all the money and legal resources the RIAA has... it's only reason to be is to initiate these heavy handed lawsuits to protect their member companies.
This is exactly like the etoys.com action against etoy.com; there's no hope for etoys.com to win in an evenly matched legal fight. But if the other party doesn't have the $$$ to fight it, then "I'm sorry. The suit was invalid, but you still lose."
Whatever happens, I hope that Napster doesn't try to make a deal with the RIAA. Look at how the RIAA managed to get the Lyrics Archive to "get back up" -- but at the cost that it now has virtually no lyrics whatever. Any deals with the RIAA means that RIAA wins, and everybody else loses.
I wonder if there will be a legal defense fund set up...
--
It's not case, it's the Law (Score:5)
What do you think would have happend if the RIAA would simply have called the Napster people and asked them; 'hey, could you implement some kind of copy protection scheme for those who want to use it?'. I bet that they'd have gotten their way, and much faster than by suing. Besides, as has been pointed out, there are a lot of other ways to get MP3's that are just as easy. So maybe the RIAA is only trying to set a precedent by attacking a small part of what they percieve as a problem? If they'd succeed in taking on a weak opponent they could move on to stronger ones with another weapon in their legal arsenal.
But what can you do if you have a system that let's a kid sue her parents for refusing to give her candy? (I still refuse to believe in that one, the thought of a country alowing things like that to happend and armed with nukes is way to scary.) Not to say that our law is perfect, one just has to look at the case where two thieves beat an 70 year old man to death with a frying pan and got out free by blaming eachother to see that, but at least people over here don't sue eachother all the time.
Re:Pirated MP3's (Score:4)
It works the other way too... (Score:3)
what irritates me. (Score:5)
Phillips is currently selling a standalone CD writer that makes exact copies of CDs, and does nothing else. They boast about this in their commercials. Unlike conventional computer CD-R drives, which _can_ be used for completely legal purposes, or for making mixtapes of the cds you already own a la minidisc, the CD writer they're selling makes an exact copy of a CD you have already. There is NO POSSIBLE PURPOSE for this device except for making copies and then distributing them illegally. But the RIAA has no problem with it.
None of this is about copyright violation at _all_. (If it were, they'd go after copyright violations.) It's about the RIAA maintaining a monopoly; it's about elitism; it's about keeping anyone outside of the small group of ultrarich megacorporations from operating without going through the ultrarich corporations, or keeping small groups from gaining cultural power.
It's about destroying anyone who can't afford a lawyer.
(p.s. this is offtopic, but doesn't Phillips own some of the patents on mp3 or something? if so, where are they now? Not helping napster, apparently..)
RIAA gets injunction banning FTP, HTTP, cp, rcp... (Score:5)
The "cp" command allows one to do the same (copy to disk and distribute at will). rcp and scp are even worse -- they do the same thing across a network. The venerable ftp protocol allows users to download information in binary format at will. Oh shit! So does http, come to think of it! Then there is IRQ, the most evil of evils. Poeple speaking freely with one another in realtime. Good Lord! Not just a piracy tool, but a conspiricy tool as well! Call the FBI stat!
The RIAA, in even filing this lawsuit, is effectively proposing the banning of the entire internet and all of the utilities and protocols which make it a usable medium for any type of information exchange. This is an attempt to do two things: (1) intimidate a small company with a large legal fist and (2), if they should be so lucky as to find a judge with sufficient sympathy (or a great deal of Sony stock in his portfolio), to effectively ban any tool that lets users exchange binary information of any kind ('cuz it just might be music).
If this doesn't make the absurdity of their lawsuit clear, nothing will.
self-representation (Score:3)
If you can gather enough advice from a lawyer friend (or maybe an free, open legal advice reposity. Any legal advice FAQ's (or HOWTO's) out there?) then maybe it would be worth rebelling in the face of expensive legal action by defending yourself. The benefit of a win is set precedence, a chance for an open-source legal community, and any little guy, to develop backbone against the market that has developed around defending your rights.
I have to admit that I'm all talk (text?) right now. I'm scared of lawyers and the power of their niche. I don't think I could stand up and defend myself against them, given that most judges and congressmen were once lawyers, and I'm a cynic who thinks nepotism and bribery will overcome the ethics of some judges. It just seems to easy for the system to ignore me there is no organized community to support me.
Since the government is responsible for the creation of complex law, it ought to divert some funds to create a online service to help simiplify the citizen's navigation of the law. But until a program like that appears on the scene, an open legal advice reposity is all we can hope for (VA Legal Systems, LegalCare, LegalNewbie?)
Sorry about the anti-capitalistic-lawyer slander, please don't sue me until I have some open legal resources with which to defend myself.
Re:Missing the point... (Score:3)
In seeking a blanket ban, the RIAA are effectively acting as a cartel, wielding monopoly control over the distribution of all music.
There's room for a counter-suit there if you ask me. And the amount of money required to settle that case would easily feed a dozen lawyers who could be hired on a "no-win-no-fee" basis.
Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
Thought exists only as an abstraction
Great Letter to RIAA - read this. (Score:3)
Dear RIAA,
I am writing to express my frustration with the recording industry, including, but not limited to, and culminating in the suit against Napster.
I find it highly ironic that the Recording Industry is suddenly so publicly concerned about the "rights of artists" in copyright infringement.
What Napster.com does is make music available to those who enjoy it and appreciate it. What the recording industry does is make music they want to sell us available to us. You have, in general, shown an absolute disregard for musicianship and talent for half a century. Why do you purport to care now?
When one of any of the companies represented by the RIAA takes an artist's music and copyrights it themselves, changes it through endless bouts of overproduction, completely forces the artist to give up their artistic integrity for the purpose of selling some plasticized, poppy product to the public, it is stealing something much more precious than money from artists.
Napster's intent is obviously not to make their favorite artists poor, what could possibly be their motive for doing something like that? Napster's intent is to lessen the hold that the RIAA and others have over artists. Artists like Ani Difranco have shown that nationwide distribution and large fanbases can be attained without the help of the RIAA or huge management corporations, that artistic integrity can be saved, and that the buying public LOVES it.
Now a new medium has swept our entire society. The Internet is everywhere, boys, and you'd better get used to it. The RIAA can no longer dominate every aspect of music listening and enjoyment in our country and around the world. Smart kids who love music will figure out a way to share art with everyone, no matter what kind of bullying, laissez-faire capitalistic greed you try to pull on them.
Your quotes from artists are laughable. They're being paid by you! Not from their music! How much more are you making per record sold than artists like Creed? Don't kid yourself into thinking that music listeners all over aren't on to you.
You cannot stop us. When I was a really poor kid growing up in rural Missouri, the only way I could have access to music was by dubbing it on old tape recorders from my friends' recordings. I don't feel guilty for keeping the artists from making their $.0005, and keeping you from making your $8.00, because through that listening, I have developed a deep and abiding love for music. I buy CDs now, I listen to what I want to, and I've probably paid for an executive's parking space in revenues. Yet you do not sue the companies who make blank tapes for dubbing...you do not sue the computer manufacturers whose technology allowed music to be converted to MP3 format, you do not sue internet providers for making mass communication between listeners possible. Do you refrain only because you know it is a losing battle? Because you are simply very afraid of these intelligent and slightly sneaky kids who are undermining your very way of life? All of the above and more.
Your entire industry disgusts me. When your entire motive is to take total advantage of artists in the interests of making more and more and more dollars, how can you expect us to side with you against some kids who may be doing some wrong, but certainly have the music in first place?
You are going to need to seriously reconsider your entire way of doing business, to wake up and hear the dialup...America is on to you, and you're not going to stop it.
Sincerely,
Re:Semi-related (Score:3)
There's something wrong with that? (Score:3)
The problem here is that you think that violence is never justified. I disagree.
The basic reason IMHO that Americans have such a fundemental right to firearms is so that if it becomes utterly, truely necessary, we can overthrow our government, which will pretty certainly require the use of force. Wish it didn't, but if things are that bad, they probably will.
This is how it's supposed to work. Because the government derives its power and right to exist from a single source: the people. And if we don't like it then that's that for the government.
If I lived under an utterly oppressive United States of America (there is some debate as to whether or not we actually do; I don't, but we're probably getting there slowly much like the frog in the pot), it would be my obligation as an American to overthrow it so that I can live freely. Is this bad? No. It's good. It is a good use of violence or the threat of violence. Do you disagree?
Sony Betamax Case Redux . . . (Score:5)
The Supreme Court held that a defendant CANNOT be guilty for contributing to the infringement by a third party, whenever the apparatus being sold is capable of a substantial non-infringing use -- even if he has knowledge that the piracy might occur. In Betamax case, the Supes held that "time-shifting" broadcast TV by a consumer is fair use, and thus, there existed substantial non-infringing uses.
Of course, Sony lost to the Supreme Court of the Marketplace in the long run, but they set a virtually unassailable precedent for those who follow: if the thing can be used for non-infringing purposes, there won't be responsibility unless the defendant, itself, is actually doing the piracy.