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RIAA / MPAA 'friends' named

You'll recall that as part of Hollywood's bid to manipulate the US legal system in the Grokster/Morpheus ruling, a number of friend-of-the-court briefs have been filed.

The object of the exercise is to bludgeon the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit into overturning US District Court Judge Stephen Wilson's decision that Grokster and Morpheus aren't liable for 'copyright infringement' on their networks.

The same thing happened during the Days of Whine and Napster. Have a look here, and then check the list below.

In the meanwhile, the names of the "distinguished and diverse group of legal academics" who climbed up behind Hollywood weren't given first time around. Now, however, we can reveal they are:

Roger Milgrim, professor of law at New York University School of Law

Arthur Miller, the Bruce Bromley Professor of Law at Harvard Law School

Neil Boorstyn, counsel (and by an amazing coincidence, Boorstyn was also Special Master in the Napster case)

Jay Dougherty, Professor of Law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles

James Gibson, who teaches intellectual property and computer law at the University of Richmond School of Law

Robert Gorman, the Kenneth W. Gemmill Professor of Law Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania

Hugh Hansen, professor of law at Fordham University School of Law

Douglas Lichtman, professor at the University of Chicago Law School

Eric Schwartz, Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center

Also represented are an impressive number of "international rights owner organizations" - why foreign groups are filing in a domestic US case isn't explained - as well as "legitimate online entertainment distributors".

The organizations involved are:

American Film Marketing Association, American Society of Media Photographers, Association for Independent Music, Association of American Publishers, Association of American University Presses, Association of Independent Music Publishers, CMPA-Action Fund, Entertainment Software Association, Graphic Artists Guild, Imageline, Inc, Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, Music Performance Trust Funds, Office of the Commissioner of Baseball (Major League Baseball), Recording Artists Coalition, Rhythm & Blues Foundation, SESAC, Inc, Video Software Dealers Association, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, National Association of Recording Merchandisers, American Federation of Musicians, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers, Authors Guild, The Broadcast Music, Inc, Directors Guild of America, Inc, Producers Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, Songwriters Guild of America

"International rights owner organizations": Bureau International des Sociétés Gérant les Droits d'Enregistrement et de Reproduction Mécanique (BIEM), International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP), International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), International Federation of Actors (FIA) International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), International Federation of Musicians (FIM), International Publishers Association (IPA), International Video Federation (IVF)

"Legitimate online entertainment distributors": BuyMusic, Echo, Full Audio, Liquid Audio, MusicNet, MusicRebellion, Pressplay.