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Tinfoil has recently posted the several reports about RIAA:
In a move to make them even more popular, the RIAA is seeking to reduce the royalty rate paid to artists. The agreement signed in 1981 is good for 25 years and ends, oh, real soon now.
The Digital Music Weblog points out that "During the period when piracy was devastating the record industry, the RIAA argues, profits for publishers rose as revenue generated from ringtones and other innovative services grew. Record industry executives said there was nothing strange about seeking a rate change that would pay less to the people who write the music."
The RIAA companies are taking a significant hit from a number of vectors, not the least of which is piracy. Of course it can be argued that much of that piracy could have been avoided had the recording industry adopted new technology much quicker instead of relying on companies like Apple to drag them kicking and screaming into this connected age. The RIAA companies seek to offset some of this cost by reducing the already slim royalty payments made to the people who create the music we listen to.
Another report "RIAA victims sue Kazaa":
From Ray Beckerman : In Chicago, Illinois, a Kazaa customer has filed a class action against Kazaa, Lewan v. Sharman , U.S.Dist. Ct., N.D. Ill 06-cv-6736.
The lead plaintiff, Catherine Lewan, was a Kazaa customer who was sued by the RIAA for her use of Kazaa, and paid a settlement to the RIAA.
In her complaint she alleges, among other things, that
-Kazaa deceptively marketed its product as allowing "free downloads" (Complaint, par. 30);
-it designed the software in such a manner as to create a shared files folder and make that folder available to anyone using Kazaa, while at the same time failing to make the user aware that it had done so (Complaint, par. 36-37); and
-it surreptitiously installed "spyware" on users' computers which made the shared files folder accessible to the Kazaa network even after the user had removed the Kazaa software from his or her computer (Complaint, par. 42-45).
I honestly didn't see this one coming but I think there is actually a small chance that this will work. Granted, the software did offer legitimate free downloads and I'm quite certain the EULA goes a long way in covering Kazaa's ass, but it's a remote possibility.
Other interesting points of note:
-The Sharman Defendants knew most of the users of the KaZaA product would use the KaZaA product to catalog and store digital copies of copyrighted sound recordings and films (par. 32)
-The Sharman Defendants encouraged, invited and solicited such conduct from the public, its members and users of the KaZaA product (par. 33)
Source Tinfoil |
