More on the File Sharing Pseudo-suits

I say, the more hassle and court time these suits take up, the better. Make the legal costs outrageous! Double bill! Wring the RIAA bastards dry!! Viva la revolution!

As long as my crappy songs don't start making money, that is

From the Electronic Frontier FoundationCourt Orders Record Industry to File 203 Separate Lawsuits

EFF, the ACLU, and its local affiliates won a victory for the
privacy and due process rights of Internet users when a
Pennsylvania federal court ruled last week that the record
companies must file 203 separate lawsuits against alleged
filesharers rather than lump them together in a single case.

"We're glad the judge has recognized that the RIAA was trying
to skirt around the regular rules for lawsuits by grouping over
200 individuals as a gang of file sharers," said EFF Staff
Attorney Jason Schultz. "We think each individual who is being
sued has a right to have her own trial, and have her
own privacy interests evaluated independently of anyone else
who's being sued."

Judge Clarence Newcomer found in BMG Music v. Does 1-203 that
the record companies acted improperly in joining all 203
defendants in a single lawsuit and ordered them to file
separate complaints against each of the unnamed "John Doe"
defendants. The companies must now pay the full filing fee
for each case, for a total of about $30,000, as well as make
individualized allegations against each defendant.

For the complete case update:
http://eff.org/IP/P2P/20040305_eff_pr.php

Wired article on the ruling:
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,62576,00.html


Now playing: San Diego Serenade, from the album The Heart Of Saturday Night by Waits, Tom (released 1974)

[Posted with ecto]