Court Rejects RIAA Request To Identify Song Swappers

KingFishKingFish
edited January 2005 in Science & Tech
A U.S. appeals court has rejected a tactic used by the music industry to identify alleged file swappers in order to sue them, marking the second time a federal court has struck down subpoenas that seek names of Internet service provider subscribers.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit yesterday overturned a Missouri district court ruling that ordered ISP Charter Communications to turn over about 200 subscriber names to the Recording Industry Association of America.

The court's decision will not stop the RIAA from filing lawsuits against unnamed peer-to-peer users, however. The association has filed more than 7000 such lawsuits against unidentified file traders since December 2003, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the subpoena process used by the RIAA to obtain ISP subscriber names.

The RIAA has filed lawsuits only against unnamed defendants, called John Doe defendants, since the District of Columbia court ruling, said RIAA spokesperson Jonathan Lamy. The defendants are then identified in the course of the lawsuit.

"There is no practical effect of this decision," Lamy said of Tuesday's ruling. "We've been filing John Doe lawsuits."
Source: PC World

Comments

  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited January 2005
    HaHA! :D

    World: 2, RIAA: 0

    My day has officially been made.
  • KingFishKingFish
    edited January 2005
    Don't get out your best champagne just yet. It's a long battle ahead and this is one of the more insignificant rulings.
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