In the latest chapter of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)’s ongoing legal battle against file sharing, the trade group won a lawsuit against Usenet.com.
"This decision is another example of courts recognizing the value of copyrighted music and taking action against companies and individuals who are engaging in wide scale infringement," the RIAA said in a statement. "We hope that other bad actors who are engaging in similar activity will take note of this decisive opinion."
The Usenet.com group was found liable for copyright infringement, with the following legal mumbo jumbo noted: direct copyright infringement, inducement of infringement, viacrious infringement, and contributory infringement. Furthermore, Usenet.com was criticized after it began erasing hard drives, not turning over information, and even going as far as sending some employees to Europe to avoid questioning.
The ruling in the RIAA’s favor was in the Southern District of New York, and will likely open up the doors for the RIAA to begin filing similar lawsuits against other Usenet groups. The lawsuit, originally filed against Usenet.com in 2007, shows the RIAA’s ongoing legal action against organized file sharing is successful.
Usenet groups were extremely popular but lost their luster when peer-to-peer file sharing became more popular among PC users. However, Usenet groups still provide music tracks and other copyrighted material, hosted on servers used by the Usenet underground. Usenet.com charged up to $19 per month to access files, attracting new users with the lure of downloading copyrighted music.
The RIAA has taken just one person, Jammie Thomas, to court during its well-noted John Doe lawsuit campaign — but organized copyright infringement groups, Torrent sites and Usenet companies have also been a popular target for the RIAA.
7 Comments
And while we're at it, let's sue Xerox for making the means to copy books. Those writers are just getting screwed because nobody pays them when they copy the books and other copyrighted materials. It's just so sad that these....what.....what's that....they already sued Xerox and lost? How can that be? What do you mean Xerox isn't at fault for someone else's actions. That's absurd. Fair use? What the hell are you talking about? Stop changing the subject! It's clear these criminals are all in bed together and we need to stop it! It's all the makers fault. We need to get the automakers, and then the gun makers, and the ammo makers, and the beer makers......get your hands off me....get that jacket away from me... let go....hellllp......
http://www.cdfreaks.com/jochem/../im...es/2/smile.gif
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/judge-throws-book-at-usenetcom-in-riaa-lawsuit.ars
From reading it, these guys went above and beyond the call of duty in pointing people right to copyrighted works. They assisted customers through support personnel, opened up seperate newsgroups to store music, and even had instructions on their site on how to download these files. To me, they deserve it. They asked for it so what can you say other than they were total dumbasses. Giganews and other services, THAT don't regulate usenet data will still be safe from prosecution because they fall under the DMCA's "safe habor" provision. That is, as long as they don't pull a stunt like Usenet.com. What a bunch of morons!
When the RIAA is to the point where they can not sue anymore (because there is no one left to sue), what are they going to do when their revenue keeps depleting?
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