Judge nixes RIAA/Kazaa details
p2pnet.net news:- Last year Ray Beckerman, the New York lawyer representing a number of RIAA sue ‘em all victims, asked Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG for information on their employees’ use of Kazaa, the former bête noire of the corporate music industry, for information on their employees’ use of it to get songs they wanted to promote to radio stations.
But the Big 4’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) doesn’t have to go into detail about how that was, or still is, achieved, judge Robert M. Levy has ruled, says Beckerman on Recording Industry vs The People.
Kazaa, owned by Australia’s Sharmnan Networks, shows up in the majority of the Big 4 file sharing cases and has consequently become the defendant in a class action brought by Catherine Lewan, an ex-user sued by the Big Four’s RIAA.
She was one of the people who paid extortionate ’settlement’ cash to the RIAA and in a court document says Sharman, “configured KaZaA such that its intended use would be illegal”.
Designed in “such a manner as to create a shared files folder and make that folder available to anyone using Kazaa,” at the same time it failed, “to make the user aware that it had done so,” says Lewan’s claim.
Sharman also, “deceptively marketed” Kazaa as allowing “free downloads,” she says, and, “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”.
Beckerman wanted the Big 4 to give details of employees’ use of p2p applications to move songs to DJs, but in Marie Lindor versus the RIAA, the latter, “refused to testify on … its radio promotion employees’ use of peer to peer file sharing to send song files to radio stations, he said, adding:
“The RIAA plaintiffs have taken the position that they only need to testify about whether the companies used p2p file sharing, arguing that the Magistrate limited Ms. Lindor’s interrogatories by removing the term ‘employees’.”
Now, “Levy has denied Ms. Lindor’s application for an order compelling the plaintiffs to respond to her interrogatory and document request relating use by record company employees of p2p file sharing as a means of transmitting songs to radio stations”.
Also See:
asked – New RIAA promo tool: Kazaa, July 26, 2006
Recording Industry vs The People – Magistrate Judge Denies Defendant’s Motion , February 16, 2005
Catherine Lewan – Kazaa sued in class action, December 7, 2006
refused to testify – ‘Sanction RIAA’ call, September 12, 2006
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February 17th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Judge Levy has some connection to the industry, like Judge Owen
( Judge Owen has a record contract ).
Once someone finds that, perhaps Judge Levy might look to the
law instead of his bosses.
February 19th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Just your unproven accusations, or do you have any more information?!