RIAA: ‘We don’t sue non-infringers!’
p2pnet news | RIAA News:- “We do not pursue legal actions against noninfringers.”
The statement comes from RIAA mouthperson Jonathan Lamy.
Quick! Better let Patti Santangelo, Debbie Foster or even Tanya Andersen know because they are, after all, non-infringers against whom your employer launched (unsuccessful) legal actions.
And there are many thousands more similar innocent victims around.
RIAA statements such as this make one think of the hoary old lawyer joke:
Q – How do you know they’re lying?
A – Their lips are moving.
The quote in the intro comes in an ABA Journal story which has Andersen’s lawyer, Lory Lybeck, saying:
“The RIAA knows that its investigations cannot and do not identify infringers. The technology and process simply does not allow individuals to be identified – period. The most they can do is identify someone they associate with having used some of these peer-to-peer file-sharing programs.”
His client, Tanya Andersen, a single mother with a 10-year-old daughter who was, unbelievably, also targeted by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), recently became the first RIAA victim to launch a class action against it.
She won’t, however, be the last and meanwhile, of the lawsuits, “Our companies have every right to protect their product, just as those who have been robbed have every right to claim damages for what was stolen from them,” the story has Lamy saying.
However, he fails to explain how files shared equal a products stolen or, come to that, sales lost.
“This process is simply a means to an end – that is, communicating the message that illegal downloading has consequences and encouraging fans to turn to any one of the great legal ways to enjoy music,” he told the ABA Journal,, which adds:
Andersen’s action also mentions a specific Internet handle associated with Andersen’s alleged downloading. Andersen says she had never heard of the handle until she was sued. Lybeck says a search of the name connected it to a man in Everett, Wash.
“This man’s MySpace Web page … describes his interest in computers, music and even admits downloading copyrighted materials,” Andersen’s complaint states.
That information was presented to the RIAA before it dropped the lawsuit, Lybeck says. “They knew it was him, yet they continued to harass and intimidate her,” he adds, mentioning that a judge ordered Andersen’s computer examined by a forensic expert the RIAA hired, and there was no evidence of illegally downloaded music.
“They can’t back off,” Lybeck says, “because once they admit that their approach and investigation are technically flawed, everyone who is innocent will say they didn’t do it.”
Stay tuned.
Also See:
ABA Journal – Plaintiff to RIAA: Download This!, November, 2007
also targeted – RIAA vs Kylee hits the mainstream, March 28, 2007
launch a class action – Tanya Andersen sues the RIAA, June 25, 2007
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