copyright

Add Oasis to the list of bands considering music giveaway

These are fearful times for the music industry. As record companies train their considerable legal might on a Minnesota mother accused of illegal downloading, their talent is walking out the back door.

No sooner had Nine Inch Nails announced on Monday that it no longer was under contract to a record label, when word came that Oasis and Jamiroquai are considering whether to release songs online for free, according to British publication, The Telegraph.

Should they decide to go the free route, Oasis and Jamiroquai--two unsigned but very popular bands--would follow Radiohead, the British group that last week announced it … Read more

Will appeal succeed in RIAA's $222,000 'making available' case?

The Minnesota woman who was slapped with a $222,000 penalty for "making available" songs on the Kazaa network is appealing her loss.

But can she actually win against the Recording Industry Association of America?

There's probably a 50-50 chance. On one hand, the RIAA has won some minor victories in the last few years with its "making available" arguments to expand copyright law beyond what it actually seems to say. Now that there's finally going to be some serious public and judicial scrutiny, however, the odds are closer to even.

(If the RIAA … Read more

Minnesota woman to appeal $220,000 RIAA award

Jammie Thomas, the Minnesota woman who last week was ordered to pay the recording industry $222,000 for copyright violations related to sharing songs, has decided to appeal the verdict.

Thomas announced her decision Monday morning on cable news channel CNN and on her MySpace.com page.

Thomas said on her blog that she and her attorney, Brian Toder, plan to appeal based on the federal jury's finding that making songs available online violates copyright.

"This would stop the RIAA dead in their tracks," Thomas wrote on her blog. "Every single suit they have brought has … Read more

Bush admin: RIAA win shows copyright law is 'effective'

The Bush administration said on Friday that the recording industry's $222,000 courtroom victory shows that the legal system is working against peer-to-peer pirates.

"Cases such as this remind us strong enforcement is a significant part of the effort to eliminate piracy, and that we have an effective legal system in the U.S. that enables rights holders to protect their intellectual property," said Chris Israel, the U.S. Coordinator for International Intellectual Property Enforcement, to CNET News.com.

President Bush named Israel, formerly a senior Commerce Department official, to the key copyright post in July 2005. … Read more

Why the RIAA should have won (though the fine was too high)

The Recording Industry Association of America probably should have won its lawsuit against a Minnesota woman accused of sharing songs through the Kazaa file-sharing network.

There was enough evidence linking Jammie Thomas' computer to an IP address that was offering a slew of copyrighted songs to other Kazaa users. A jury in Minnesota, hardly the record labels' home turf, unanimously thought so too.

The problem isn't the verdict. It's the penalty.

After decades of special-interest lobbying by large holders of intellectual property rights, U.S. copyright law has spiraled out of control. It's been transformed from limited … Read more

Minnesota woman who owes RIAA $220,000 calls sum 'ridiculous'

Jammie Thomas, the woman who was ordered by a federal jury on Thursday to pay $220,000 to six music labels, said on Friday that U.S. copyright laws are unjust and that the cost of proving her innocence was nearly impossible for someone in her financial situation.

"It says in the Constitution that there should be no undue fines," Thomas said in an interview with CNET News.com. "I was just fined (9,000 percent more) than the value of these songs."

The RIAA sued Thomas for copyright infringement and unlike the vast majority of … Read more

Democratic congressman: RIAA's $222,000 win is 'excessive'

The recording industry's victory Thursday in a trial involving a Minnesota woman accused of illegal file-sharing is already turning at least a few heads on Capitol Hill.

We caught up by phone on Friday afternoon with Rep. Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat well known for his strongly held views on fair use and the need to defang stringent anti-copying laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. (He's one of the Recording Industry Association of America's most ardent foes on copyright legislation.)

We wanted to know Boucher's answer to the obvious question: Will Congress lessen penalties for … Read more

Four reasons why the RIAA won a jury verdict of $220,000

The Recording Industry Association of American got a chance on Thursday to show everyone just how heavy and intimidating the legal club of copyright law can be.

As my colleague Greg Sandoval wrote a few hours ago, a Minnesota woman named Jammie Thomas was sued by the RIAA for allegedly making available some 1,702 songs through the Kazaa network (though only 24 were at issue in the case). A federal jury sided with the RIAA and returned a verdict of $222,000.

I've put some recent documents in the case online here for your perusal.

So why did … Read more

RIAA wins key victory; accused file sharer must pay $220,000

UPDATE at 8:46 p.m. PDT: A Minnesota woman must pay $220,000 to six of the top music labels after a federal jury found on Thursday that she violated their copyright.

Accused of encouraging the illegal sharing of more than 1,700 songs, Jammie Thomas, 30, elected to fight it out with the recording industry instead of settling out of court for far less money. The ensuing legal battle marked the first time the recording industry has argued a file-sharing case before a jury.

Since 2003, many of the 26,000 persons sued by the Recording Industry Assoc. of America (RIAA) have avoided litigation by agreeing to pay a few thousand dollars. Thomas, who could not be reached for comment, has always maintained her innocence. Accused of sharing music through the use of peer-to-peer service, Kazaa, she told the jury that she didn't even own a Kazaa account.

The jury didn't buy her argument. Thomas was ordered to pay $9,250 for each of the 24 songs that the RIAA concentrated on. She was initially accused of sharing 1,702 songs. The decision is important in that it sends a message to file sharers that Internet anonymity won't protect them from lawsuits, said Chris Castle, a copyright attorney and longtime music industry executive.

Castle said the Web makes it simple to hide. Proving who was sitting at a computer at any given time is very difficult for copyright owners. What is precedent-setting about this case is that the jury decided it doesn't matter who was sharing music on Thomas' computer.

AT&T defends plan to detect customers' Net piracy

WASHINGTON--An AT&T executive on Wednesday sought to defuse fears that forthcoming tools aimed at identifying pirates on its network will harm the average Net surfer's online experience.

The planned tactic is "not about heavy-handed tactics that go after the vast majority of our customers that want to consume content legally," AT&T assistant vice president of regulatory policy Brent Olson said at an antipiracy summit here hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "It's about making more content available to more people in more ways going forward."

In June, AT&T announced that it was collaborating … Read more