eranros used our news submit to tell us about this story he spotted concerning a brave soul that has decided to fight the RIAA. Although many have been served legal notices as the IP they have been using can be linked to illegal sharing of copyrighted works, so far the greatest majority have just bit the bullet and paid a small (in relative terms) settlement, thereby avoiding an expensive and quite risky lawsuit.
On average, regardless of how many files that people are accused of offering for upload, the settlement wound up to be around 3500 dollars. This seems like a lot for a bunch of lossy music files, but if you risk fighting the accusation, you're setting yourself up for at least 750 dollars per track. Usually, the suits are not filed against music file swappers, unless they have around 1000 tracks in that pesky shared folder that the RIAA loves to look in...so do the math, then settle.
Here we go again with the RIAA waging it's Jihad against music piracy, by setting it's legal attack dogs loose on Joe America's household. Also, here we go again with a parent infuriated that they can be sued for the actions of their 11 year old child while at the command console of their homes Internet connected computer. This guy is understandably in a rage, and at least temporarily, has decided to fight the thing in court. Good luck my friend, your going to need it!
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(SNIP) He said he did not know about the downloads until the lawsuit, and argues that he should not be sued for something his daughter did. He contends his daughter Samantha was duped by Kazaa's advertising. |
I think this guy is probably right on in the first paragraph! But, hopefully, his attorney will talk some sense into his head. There is no way he is going to win this battle in a legal arena. This is why no one fights it. The owner of the account with the ISP is liable for the actions of those using the account. You could even have a pet monkey pounding the keyboard and still lose to the RIAA (I think). Because you are still illegally distributing copyrighted works without compensation to the copyright holder and this is what the RIAA is upset about.
It will be quite interesting if he can on this course, especially after going on record with the press. Hopefully, he will schedule a consultation with a proper attorney and not try to defend himself in court. We can assume this had not occured at the time of the press release, it would seem that a legal representative would have advised against going on public record at this time. He can't blame KazaA either. Recent legal decisions indicate that, file sharing software companies are not liable for what the end user does with their software.
In the past, a couple of folks have beaten this rap, but it's because they took a different strategy. i.e. they proved they were running a Mac and the software they were accused of using was Windows only. Or they claimed it was a case of mistaken identity. This guy just admitted publically that he is guilty! Good luck my friend. Let's see how this plays out and what the resulting fine will be, once he gives te RIAA a chance to show what happens to those that decide to try and contest the law.
I couldn't help but think of that John Mellencamp tune right now, the Authority song. Then I read the lyrics and it really fits this poor guys situation. If you would like to discuss such matters further, or are interested in file sharing, please feel free to stop by our Music Download, Peer to Peer (P2P) & Legal Issues Forum.
Source: The Star Tribune
