In an aim to show that the recent P2P ruling does not mean users have the right to share music, the RIAA have filed yet another round of lawsuits targeting 896 music lovers; nearly double the previous time. Of these 896 include 152 they sued previously but declined to settle their cases out of court. In this round, the RIAA have aimed to target users across a wide range of P2P platforms rather than just the most popular P2P networks.
Despite all these lawsuits, they have yet to provide clear evidence that file sharing directly affects sales. With other forms of entertainment such as movies and games, sales are still on the rise despite widespread piracy on these. It is likely that many users are just getting tired of modern music and constantly hearing about threats and suits, thus figuring it is time to take on some other form of 'enjoyable' entertainment.
In the P2P ruling, the court said that that the RIAA has just go along with P2P technology as ruling against P2P and similar technology could affect the creation of future technologies. First the record labels complained about the Radio, then the tape recorder, then the CD recorder and yet they have successfully managed to do well until this day. GristyMcFisty and Quakester2000 both submitted the following news via our news submit:
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The latest lawsuits were aimed at 744 fresh P2P users and 152 users who had already been sued and then declined to settle their cases with the RIAA out of court. The pigopolists have now managed to sue close to 4,000 people for trading music online. The RIAA has yet to provide conclusive evidence that file-trading has played any direct role in declining music sales, and a Harvard/North Carolina study found that file-trading likely has no effect at all on music revenue. "We are adjusting and expanding our efforts to target illegal file sharing on additional platforms like eDonkey and others," said RIAA President Cary Sherman. "There will always be a degree of piracy, both on the street and online. But without a strong measure of deterrence, piracy will overwhelm and choke the creation and distribution of music." Sherman's opinion is almost the exact opposite of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which last week denied the RIAA's bid to shutdown decentralized P2P networks. The court warned the RIAA and others that pursuing litigation against P2P and similar technology could harm innovation. "The introduction of new technology is always disruptive to old markets, and particularly to those copyright owners whose works are sold through well-established distribution mechanisms," the court said. "Yet, history has shown that time and market forces often provide equilibrium in balancing interests, whether the new technology be a player piano, a copier, a tape recorder, a video recorder, a personal computer, a karaoke machine, or an MP3 player." The RIAA has proved unwilling to consider that its actions are actually cutting off a new market and alienating already disgruntled consumers. P2P backers have urged the music labels to cease litigation and work to create new distribution channels for music. |
It seems like the RIAA's only tactic in trying to
discourage piracy is by still suing potential customers and increasing the number of lawsuits round after round. While some users will be scared off from P2P networks, very few would go back to purchasing CDs, but instead choose other methods of obtaining music (or other form of entertainment :p ). Users that have been sued will obviously very unlikely go back to purchasing music, but may cause more harm by persuading their friends and neighbours to stop purchasing music in an aim to boycott the RIAA.
In the end, these lawsuits are doing no more good other than ruining some people's lives just so that the record labels assume that it is helping to
minimise profit loss caused by file sharing. Decreasing P2P usage is no indication of increasing sales.
Source: The Register - Internet & Law
