Big 4 record labels vs Eircom
p2pnet news | Music:- A bid by Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG to saddle Irish ISP Eircom with so-called file sharing problems has been dismissed by the company.
The Big 4 cartel tried to claim it had to bear some liability, “and for the illegal free downloading of music by computer users,” says RTÉ Business.
The labels claim Eircom’s networks are being used, “on a grand scale’ for illegal downloading,” says the story, going on:
“The case was initiated last March and Eircom has filed a defence rejecting the claims and contending that the record companies have established no cause of action against it. Discovery issues are being finalised and the sides expected the case to be ready for hearing within weeks.”
Eircom maintains the Big 4 failed to identify ‘infringing material’ and, “if they have identified such material, then Eircom claims such material cannot be removed without damaging Eircom’s systems/equipment or internet services”
It also believes direct evidence, as well as affidavit evidence, is needed, the story states, adding the lawsuit was lodged by EMI Records (Ireland) Ltd, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Ireland) Ltd, Universal Music (Ireland) Ltd and Warner Music (Ireland) Ltd against Eircom Ltd.
They’re, “seeking orders – under the Copyright and Related Rights Acts 2000 – restraining Eircom from infringing copyright in the sound recordings owned by, or exclusively licensed to them, by making available (through Eircom’s internet service facilities) copies of those recordings to the public without the companies’ consent,” says RTÉ Business.
‘A(nother) serious embarrassment’
The record companies claim Eircom should be buying Audible Magic’s Copy[Non]Sense, a so-called ‘filter’ being peddled by RIAA ‘expert’ witness Doug Jacobson, says Recording Industry vs The People’s Ray Beckerman, noting:
“Of course, not everyone agrees.”
Ohio University paid out almost $100,000 in anti-P2P software – $75,000, to be precise – in a bid to make Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) members of the Big 4 organised music cartel leave the school and students alone,” p2pnet posted last year, going on we should have looked a little further because the $75K wasn’t everything.
Ohio University is also paying Dr Doug Jacobson’s company $16,000 a year in “maintenance,” we said, continuing, “and Lo! – ’suddenly RIAA letters stop!’ – as Ray Beckerman points out in Recording Industry vs The People.
“Jacobson was hired by the RIAA to provide expert testimony in a case in which the Big 4 gain is trying to paint Marie Lindor, a 57-year-old New York woman who knows as much about computers as she does about flying a 747, as a massive online distributor of copyrighted music.
“However, instead of shoring up the RIAA’s fictional claims, Jacobson (right) has become a(nother) serious embarrassment.”
Stay tuned.
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RTÉ Business – Eircom rejects record firms’ claims, April 21, 2008
Recording Industry vs The People – Practice Tip: Investigate Dr. Jacobson’s Interest in “Audible Magic” and “CopySense”, November 11, 2007
p2pnet – Ohio University pays RIAA ‘expert’, October 31, 2007
serious embarrassment – RIAA ‘expert’ gainsays own evidence, October 3, 2007
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April 24th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
RIAA, Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG are starting to sound more like Scientology Extortion Cult!
April 25th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
In other words, they’d be happy with a sizable cut of ISP profits. How can they claim ISPs are partly liable when they are blaming and suing their customers for full liability at the same time? You can’t get compensation for something, and then go elsewhere demanding compensation for the exact same thing. It’s like if a kid had to pay a fine for loitering, the “crime” has been compensated for. Can they then turn around and look at getting money out of his parents also for the same offense, and maybe his relatives also?
Yet that’s exactly what they are trying to do. Get their fingers into every pie, regardless of right or wrong, justifiable or not. Why bother looking for proof when you can just sue everyone if you can get away with it.
I didn’t think EMI was so bad before, but if they want any hope of restoring their reputation they need to disassociate themselves from these Jesuits