Billyman
12-28-2003, 05:53 PM
Music industry piracy subpoenas illegal. (http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20031219-012943-3856r.htm)
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court in Washington told the record industry Friday it could no longer issue subpoenas to track down and sue alleged file swappers.
Overturning a series of decisions in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America, the court said copyright law did not allow the organization to use subpoenas for the identity of file swappers on Internet service providers' networks, CNET News.com reported.
"We are not unsympathetic either to the RIAA's concern regarding the widespread infringement of its members' copyrights, or to the need for legal tools to protect those rights," the court wrote.
"It is not the province of the courts, however, to rewrite (copyright law) in order to make it fit a new and unforeseen Internet architecture, no matter how damaging that development has been to the music industry."
The decision did not address the legality of the lawsuits that have already been filed against hundreds of individual computer users.
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Do you think this opens a door for the people that have already been fined?
What’s to stop these guys from back suing the RIAA for something like “illegal search and seizure”?
Somebody’s going to try it I’m sure. Any thoughts?
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court in Washington told the record industry Friday it could no longer issue subpoenas to track down and sue alleged file swappers.
Overturning a series of decisions in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America, the court said copyright law did not allow the organization to use subpoenas for the identity of file swappers on Internet service providers' networks, CNET News.com reported.
"We are not unsympathetic either to the RIAA's concern regarding the widespread infringement of its members' copyrights, or to the need for legal tools to protect those rights," the court wrote.
"It is not the province of the courts, however, to rewrite (copyright law) in order to make it fit a new and unforeseen Internet architecture, no matter how damaging that development has been to the music industry."
The decision did not address the legality of the lawsuits that have already been filed against hundreds of individual computer users.
_____________________________________________________
Do you think this opens a door for the people that have already been fined?
What’s to stop these guys from back suing the RIAA for something like “illegal search and seizure”?
Somebody’s going to try it I’m sure. Any thoughts?