There are two things you can count on in life, said Ben Franklin, "Death and Taxes." Don't forget the RIAA's once-a-month lawsuit assembly line, as today the trade organization announced 750 "John Doe" actions against alleged copyright infringers. These lawsuits were aimed against users of "unauthorized" P2P "services" such as LimeWire and Kazaa.

The very definition of an "unauthorized P2P service" continues to remain something of a mystery. Throughout the history of file-sharing's lengthy courtroom battles, not one P2P network (the assumed definition of service) has been declared unauthorized. An odd choice of words considering authorized distributor Altnet piggybacks Kazaa, while iMesh partially utilizes Gnutella as part of its authorized service.

As a point of interest in the RIAA press release, the music trade organization uses two words to describe individuals currently facing litigation. These words are "distributing" and "downloaders." How are these words significant? Let's look at how they're used in context.

The new “John Doe” lawsuits filed today cite individuals for illegally distributing copyrighted music on the Internet via unauthorized peer-to-peer services such as LimeWire and Kazaa.

In this circumstance, it's implied the RIAA is only going after those who upload files. If an individual opts to only download from a P2P network, its impossible to otherwise distribute a file. However, the RIAA press release contradicts itself with a quote from President Cary Sherman.

“While the music companies continue to innovate and develop new digital ways to offer music to fans, we will do our part to hold illegal downloaders accountable. Prosecuting songlifting is integral to helping protect the ability of record companies to invest in the up-and-coming bands of tomorrow and level the playing field for legal online services,” said Cary Sherman, President, RIAA. “The illegal downloading of music is just as wrong as shoplifting from a local store. It's against the law, and breaking the law must carry consequences.”

So the question becomes, is the RIAA going after uploaders or downloaders? What does holding “downloaders accountable” mean? Is it different from filing a lawsuit against “distributors”? Its apparent many ambiguous words are being used to confuse the issue, as many will overlook these glaring discrepancies.

Nevertheless, those facing litigation from the RIAA all fit a similar profile. All shared files online, also known as uploaders. Most of these high profile cases featured individuals sharing thousands of songs on the FastTrack network, via the Kazaa P2P client. Today’s filings bring the total number of RIAA actions to 16,837.

This story is filed in these Slyck News categories
Entertainment Industry :: RIAA
Legal/Courtroom :: Individual Lawsuits

You can read the press release here.

You can discuss this article here - 74 replies