p2pnet - rss feed: MPAA won’t follow RIAA example:
MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) boss Jack Valenti says the movie industry won’t be following the music industry’s example any time soon.
He was referring to the latter’s blind determination to sue everyone it can identify who’s using a p2p application to share music files.
At the behest of its owners, the major record labels, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has been using instant subpoenas it gained under theDigital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) to browbeat ISPs into revealing the names of alleged file sharers.
A landmark decision which came just before Christmas means ISPs cannot , after all, be forced to reveal the identities of Internet subscribers accused of music piracy to the RIAA - or anyone else. Now it’ll have to use due process - like everyone else. What this will mean to existing and new victims remains to be seen.
In the meanwhile, the MPAA has been using ISPs to make threats and although rumours that it’ll soon follow the RIAA’s example and start suing file sharers en masse have been circulating the Net for weeks, the movie studio trade organ hasn’t actually embarked upon an RIAA-like sue ‘em all campaign.
"I’m not ruling out anything, but at this moment we don’t have any specific plans to sue anyone," Valenti is quoted as saying in a New York Times story here. "I think we have learned from the music industry."
Valenti didn’t say precisely what the movie moguls had learned from their recording industry counterparts, but presumably, one of the lessons was: suing your customers isn’t smart business or public relations practice.
