RIAA bests Usenet in lawsuit

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."

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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.

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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.

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