p2pnet news special | RIAA News:- Ray Beckerman and Lory Lybeck (top right) have a lot in common.

They live and work at opposite ends of the US, Lybeck in the Pacific NorthWest, Beckerman in the East. But they’re both lawyers, and they both represent RIAA victims.

And that’s not all. They’re among the increasing number of legal professionals not only in America, but also in Europe and elsewhere, who want to know more —- a lot more —- about evidence gathering and acquisition methods employed by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG ‘investigative’ company MediaSentry.

Lybeck acts for Oregon mother Tanya Andersen (top left) who, like the thousands of other innocent Big 4 victims, is falsely accused of being a massive online illegal distributor of copyrighted music files.

She and Lybeck fought the Big 4’s high-priced RIAA hired legal guns to a stand-still and were the first to accuse MediaSentry of investigating without a license, a view clearly upheld by the Massachusetts State police which has banned the company from operating in its jurisdiction.

One of Beckerman’s clients is Marie Lindor, a New York home health aide.

On a scale of 1 to 10, her knowledge of computers is about -50. And yet the RIAA accuses her of illegally distributing copyrighted music files online.

Through Beckerman, she recently told MediaSentry to put up, or shut up.

Class actions against the RIAA

Things are now distinctly and unpleasantly hot for the Big 4 and their RIAA, which holds the increasingly tenuous position that information on how MediaSentry does what it does is sacrosanct.

Not so, say Beckerman and Lybeck. MediaSentry, already shamed in Canada and Holland, should be compelled to explain its possibly incriminating procedures in depth and in detail in the US.

If it’s ordered to do so and if, as many suspect, its methods and techniques turn out to be as flimsy as its evidence, the way will instantly open for thousands of people across America to follow Tanya Andersen’s example by launching class actions against the RIAA, the people it represents, and those who work for, and advise, it.

“At first I believed the whole thing was a scam because it was so unbelievable,” Andersen told p2pnet recently, continuing >>>

It was hard to understand why, if any of this was real, I couldn’t even see any proof of what they were accusing. I certainly knew they were mistaken. I wondered how could these companies barge into your life and make outrageous demands on an innocent person. I figured after sending the letter to the Settlement Support Center, to forward to their bosses, they would figure out the error. At that time, I never realized how much my life was about to change.

The people the RIAA are suing are your average next door neighbor, sister, mother, and child. It’s hard to explain to people, who don’t know anything about the RIAA, how devastating these lawsuits really are to the average person. Most people look at you with disbelief. Sometimes you wonder if they think you are losing it (because the story sounds so unreal). Sometimes you wonder if you are losing it.

‘RIAA’s secrets will likely leak out’

As things stand, federal judge Anna Brown has dismissed Andersen’s complaint, asking her to resubmit it within 30 days, going into more detail on which specific laws the RIAA and MediaSentry are said to have violated.

Mike Ratoza, a copyright lawyer teaching at the University of Oregon, told Eliot Van Buskirk at Wired’s Listening Post that assuming Lybeck can craft the pleading to the judge’s specifications, on March 14 Andersen will have, “another chance to tilt at the RIAA windmill, with the case proceeding into the discovery phase”.

However, unlike Don Quixote’s windmill tilting efforts, Andersen’s are far from futile and could topple MediaSentry and with it, most, of not all, of the Big 4’s anti-consumer, anti-customer, anti-P2P, anti-file sharing cases.

If that happens, posits Van Buskirk, “the RIAA could be forced to release potentially incriminating details about its techniques for investigating alleged file sharers.

Listening Post goes on >>>

“This information would likely be held under a confidential seal, but if lawsuits over mold, tobacco, and asbestos are any indication, the RIAA’s secrets will likely leak out into the legal community at large, potentially culminating in a class-action lawsuit.

Once Tanya Andersen files her amended Complaint, which the RIAA is barred from contesting this time around, the organization could have to explain the following details by producing documents and allowing major-label anti-piracy executives to be deposed:

• How much the RIAA’s lawyers make
  
• Why the average file sharing settlement fee is $4-5K
  
• How it decides which file sharers to sue, and which ones not to sue
  
• Where the settlement money goes (i.e. whether any of it makes it to the artists)

If it turns out that the RIAA is paying its investigators (such as MediaSentry) a percentage of the settlements that result from their investigations, it is in even more trouble. That’s illegal in many states, according to Ratoza, including New York.

Things could get even worse for the RIAA. Andersen isn’t likely to be granted class action certification for her suit, because federal courts (where copyright-related proceedings take place) are not friendly to class-action suits.

But another RIAA lawsuit victim could use the information divulged in Andersen’s case to countersue the RIAA for specific allegations (fraud and RICO violations) in a state court, where class action certification is more likely.

Even without a class action lawsuit, the RIAA nutshell is likely to split wide open after Andersen’s case hits the discovery phase, causing problems in subsequent cases. Ratoza expects the discovery phase in Andersen’s case to start in about 90 days, and said it will last 4-6 months.

The judge isn’t likely to rule until early next year, but the RIAA’s secrets could leak out a lot sooner.

And there’s more.

‘Part of a very large and well organized criminal enterprise …’

Judge Brown is extremely well educated about the sham lawsuits clogging the Oregon federal court and hundreds of federal courts around the country, Lybeck told p2pnet, going on >>>

Judge Brown clearly directed that she would not tolerate any further delay from the RIAA, commenting that there had already been too much delay and warning the RIAA lawyers that no more pleading motions would be allowed.

Judge Brown is one of a growing number of federal judges who ‘get’s it’.

At the hearing, she asked very astute questions, gave very clear direction and was very specific in how she wants Ms Andersen’s complaint re-pleaded. She understands that Ms Andersen’s complaint is based on the obvious fact that the RIAA lawsuits are a sham and are part of a very large and well organized criminal enterprise.

Judge Brown refused the RIAA lawyers’ request to impose an absolute defense from any suit that would have the effect of protecting them from all bad acts. She firmly refused the RIAA’s request to interpret the Noerr-Pennington doctrine to give them complete immunity to act with totally impunity.

Judge Brown also was very clear that discovery will commence and be completed without any further delay. The RIAA has made it the primary focus of their defense to delay discovery, refuse discovery and then delay some more. Judge Brown will have no more of this tactic.

According to Judge Brown’s appropriate and specific instructions, Ms Andersen will file next week a very detailed 2nd Amended Complaint seeking national class action certification. The 2nd Amended Complaint adds even greater detail about the criminal acts at the center of the defendants’ conspiracy and criminal enterprise.

After the 2nd Amended Complaint is filed, discovery will begin and be completed on the schedule ordered by Judge Brown.

The blanket of secrecy that has allowed the RIAA to criminally conduct ‘investigations’ and falsely threaten tens of thousands of people will hopefully soon be lifted. The issues raised in Ms Andersen’s case are of great public importance and any attempt to impose secrecy or confidentiality orders will be strongly resisted.

Judge Brown is expected to schedule a determination of class action status after initial discovery is completed. The class action specialists that have joined in representing Ms Andersen are very optimistic about class certification.

Tanya Andersen is pleased with Judge Brown’s orders and is anxious to finally get the opportunity to publicly demonstrate the RIAA’s illegal conduct that has so seriously harmed her and many thousands of other innocent United States private citizens.

Definitely stay tuned

Jon Newton – p2pnet

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 7:26 am and is filed under Freedom, RIAA News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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