Ramping Up #2: Labels Sue 896 More

> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/25/riaa_sues_896_more/


Music labels sue 896 more music lovers

By Ashlee Vance in Chicago
Published Wednesday 25th August 2004 22:07 GMT


The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has lobbed a
fresh round of lawsuits at music fans. The music label mob
announced today that it has sued another 896 file-swappers - an
apparent retaliation against an appeals court ruling confirming
P2P networks as legal.

The latest lawsuits were aimed at 744 fresh P2P users and 152
users who had already been sued and then declined to settle their
cases with the RIAA out of court. The pigopolists have now
managed to sue close to 4,000 people for trading music online.
The RIAA has yet to provide conclusive evidence that file-trading
has played any direct role in declining music sales, and a
Harvard/North Carolina study found that file-trading likely has
no effect at all on music revenue.

"We are adjusting and expanding our efforts to target illegal
file sharing on additional platforms like eDonkey and others,"
said RIAA President Cary Sherman. "There will always be a degree
of piracy, both on the street and online. But without a strong
measure of deterrence, piracy will overwhelm and choke the
creation and distribution of music."

Sherman's opinion is almost the exact opposite of the Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which last week denied
the RIAA's bid to shutdown decentralized P2P networks. The court
warned the RIAA and others that pursuing litigation against P2P
and similar technology could harm innovation.

"The introduction of new technology is always disruptive to old
markets, and particularly to those copyright owners whose works
are sold through well-established distribution mechanisms," the
court said. "Yet, history has shown that time and market forces
often provide equilibrium in balancing interests, whether the new
technology be a player piano, a copier, a tape recorder, a video
recorder, a personal computer, a karaoke machine, or an MP3
player."

The RIAA has proved unwilling to consider that its actions are
actually cutting off a new market and alienating already
disgruntled consumers. P2P backers have urged the music labels to
cease litigation and work to create new distribution channels for
music.


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