RIAA being sued over amnesty program by Marin County attorney

After taking its antipiracy
campaign to court, the music industry is finding itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit that challenges its purported amnesty program
as a fraudulent business practice.The
Recording Industry Association of America Clean Slate program purports to offer
amnesty to repentant file-swappers who promise to stop using peer-to-peer
services to illegally download copyrighted works, and to destroy any copies of
downloaded audio files.

To qualify for the amnesty program, applicants must
fill out a sworn affidavit that requires a full name, address, telephone number,
and e-mail address, have it notarized, and send it to the RIAA. In turn, the
RIAA agrees not to "support or assist in any copyright infringement suits based
on past conduct," according to the organization.
But the offer is neither
clean nor a sweep, says Ira Rothken, the Marin County attorney who filed the
consumer lawsuit Tuesday in California Superior Court.

RIAA claims the amesty program "would provide people with a clean slate, but after a further reading of the legal documents, it became apparent that this Clean Slate program didn't provide any such thing," Rothken says. "The legal document provides no release of claims, no promise not to sue you. It offers no promise to actually clean the slate by destroying the data that these people provide," he adds. "All it says is that the RIAA simply will not cooperate in any lawsuit brought against you. That on its face is a deceptive business practice." And the offer is deceptive because the RIAA does not own the copyrights in question, Rothken says. The music labels--RIAA members--are the plaintiffs, he says. But because the RIAA is leading the charge, people think the RIAA has the power to promise not to sue them, when it doesn't, Rothken says. "Any of the RIAA's members could file suit against these individuals who have participated in the Clean Slate program, and subpoena the information they need from the RIAA about this person's guilt," Rothken says. "So, in the end, the person who supplies all this information to the Clean Slate program will have a dirtier slate than they would have if they never participated."

The lawsuit now goes to the California Superior Court, but Rothken cannot
guess when the case might be heard. He does expect the court will insist that
the RIAA make good any amnesty offer.

"The court will likely tell the RIAA that if they're going to promise amnesty
and a clean slate, then you have to do something that delivers on that promise;
for example, you have to offer a release of all claims. Or, if you can't do
that, you have to stop the promise, don't call it amnesty," Rothken says. "It's
likely the RIAA will have to admit that they don't have the authority to release
all claims, because they don't have the power to stop these lawsuits, because
they don't own the copyrights."

Looks like you might want to wait before you throw yourselves at the feet of
the RIAA and ask forgiveness.

Source: story.news.yahoo.com