RIAA Files Suit Against Aimster
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed suit against
file-sharing service Aimster http://www.aimster.com/ in U.S. District Court
in New York on May 24 for copyright infringement. The RIAA is seeking an
injunction to stop the transfer of copyrighted material through the service,
which is tied into America Online's Instant Messenger service. Another suit
against Aimster was filed on behalf of several divisions of AOL Time Warner,
including Warner Music, New Line Cinema and Atlantic Records.
"Aimster is just like Napster. The big difference between the two is that
Aimster also allows you to get movies, software and pictures," according to
Matt Oppenheim, RIAA's Senior Vice President of Business and Legal affairs.
Defendant Aimster has reportedly hired big gun defense attorney David Boies.
The Recording Industry vs. Aimster, June 1, 2001 (Matt Richtel)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/01/technology/01MUSI.html
Reuters, May 25, 2001
Read the record label's complaint (Zomba Recording Co. v. Deep) [PDF]
Requires Adobe Acrobat reader
http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/aimster/recindaimster52401.pdf
RIAA Takes Aim at Aimster, Rollingstone.com, May 25, 2001 (Christina Saraceno)
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?afl=mail1&nid=13966
RecordTV, MPAA Settle Copyright Suit
A lengthy legal battle between an Internet-based TV taping service and a group
of movie studios was settled after RecordTV.com agreed to pay $50,000 and to
stop offering recorded shows without the studios' permission. RecordTV had
signed up 100,000 people who could have the site record specific TV shows and
then play them back over the Internet at a later date. Twelve members of the
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), including MGM and Disney, filed
a lawsuit in federal court in June, alleging copyright infringement.
Associated Press, April 18, 2001 (Leslie Gornstein);
Read the original complaint (MGM v. RecordTV.com) (PDF)
http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/recordtv/recordtv.pdf
MP3.com Sued Over Insurance Claim
MP3.com has been sued by an insurance company over the online music company's
demand for a payment of $5 million for some of the millions of dollars in
losses resulting from its copyright violations. Westport Insurance Corp.
claimed in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that the San
Diego-based music company is seeking $5 million toward the $170 million it set
aside for settlements. Westport refused, saying it denied coverage because
"MP3.com misrepresented its business practices, engaged in willful violations
of the U.S. Copyright Act and entered into settlements without Westport's
prior consent."
Insurance Journal Property and Casualty Magazine, March 8, 2001
http://www.insurancejrnl.com/html/ijweb/breakingnews/regional/West/we0301/we0308011.htm
Quick Bits and Bytes
Report: 37 Percent of Software Pirated
Software piracy grew in 2000 for the first time in more than half a decade and
37 percent of the programs used by businesses worldwide are illegal copies, a
trade group of software makers reported recently.
The worldwide dollar losses to software makers due to piracy dropped slightly
to $11.75 billion, however, due to a growing market for software and lower
prices, the group said. The Business Software Alliance (BSA), an organization
of productivity software companies such as Adobe and Microsoft, has conducted
the study since 1994.
The study comes as the trade group announces 159 software piracy settlements
worldwide, totaling more than $6.2 million. Thirty-six of those settlements -
in which companies paid software companies to settle claims that they were
using unlicensed software - are in the United States. In Vietnam, only 3
percent of business software is a legitimate copy, making it the worst
offender. China and Russia also are in the top five. In the United States,
24 percent of programs are pirated copies, the report said.
Read the study at BSA's website:
http://www.bsa.org/usa/globallib/latest_research/
FindLaw Legal News/Associated Press, May 21, 2001
Congress Views New Internet Music Sales Network
Internet media company RealNetworks unveiled a music download service May 17
that could change how consumers think about their song collections.
RealNetwork's chairman, Rob Glaser, showed a House Judiciary subcommittee a
mock-up of the music industry's for-pay alternative to Napster.
MusicNet, http://www.musicnet.com/ , set to debut in August, is a
collaboration of three of the big five record labels: AOL Time Warner,
Bertelsmann AG and EMI Group. It promises a cafeteria-style way of purchasing
songs. A competing service, also set to debut around the same time, has been
shown to legislators over the past month. The other two record giants,
Universal and Sony, are responsible for that service, called Duet.
Although final details of MusicNet aren't set, users can expect to pay either
$10 to $15 per month for a certain number of downloads or more for an
all-you-can-download plan.
CNN.com/Associated Press, May 18, 2001
RIAA to Music Pirates: Prepare to be Boarded
RIAA to Music Pirates: Prepare to be Boarded
RIAA yearend 2000 anti-piracy statistics show a significant increase in the
number of online pirate sites and a marked increase in illicit CD-R seizures,
arrests and indictments. The report indicates that the trade group's
targeting of anti-piracy resources have resulted in a notable rise in piracy
arrests and indictments.
"This past year we have taken significant strides in our war against illicit
CD-R piracy," according to Frank Creighton, RIAA Senior Vice President and
Director of Anti-Piracy. "While offenders are increasingly turning to the
digital space to further their illegal operations, many are finding that we
are already there and well prepared to deal with them."
RIAA's "Operation Clean Streets," put into action in April 2000 to address the
distribution of unauthorized sound recordings on the streets of New York City,
has resulted in 1,035 arrests over an eight month period, primarily at the
retail level, and resulted in the confiscation of approximately 600,000
unauthorized CD-Rs.
RIAA Press Release, May 9, 2001: http://riaa.com/PR_story.cfm?id=414
Pirated Film Clip Does the Talking
A pirated clip of this year's Academy Award winner for Best Picture -
"Gladiator" - spoke loud and clear at a high-powered Capitol Hill hearing on
copyright and the Internet recently. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman
of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and other lawmakers were surprised at the
clip's quality, downloaded from the Internet by undercover Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA) staffers. The clip was copied to a disc and
played on a laptop computer hooked up to two TV monitors in the hearing room.
Hatch then offered MPAA president and CEO Jack Valenti his support on
copyright issues. Valenti said that more than 350,000 movies are being
downloaded from illegal Internet files each day.
Read the MPAA April 3, 2001 press release: http://www.mpaa.org/jack/index.htm; Reuters/Variety, April 4, 2001
Microsoft Launches Second Global Internet Sweep
In an effort to cleanse the net of pirated products, Microsoft Corp. recently
launched a "second global Internet sweep." Since the start of the first
operation last August, nearly five million units of counterfeit Microsoft
hardware and software with an estimated retail value of over $1.7 billion were
seized worldwide, according to a company statement.
Read the Microsoft corporate statement:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/newsroom/office/features/04-02InternetCrimeFAQ.asp
InfoWorld.com, April 2, 2001;
http://iwsun4.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/04/02/010402hnmspiracy.xml
Top
Services
|
Digest
|
Anti-Piracy FAQ
|
Copyright FAQ
|
Breaking News
|
Press
|
Archives
|
Links
|
Search
|
Home
|
Intro
