p2pnet - rss feed: Startling new RIAA triumph
Two owners of a San Bernardino, California, swap meet/flea market who refused to act as unpaid record label cops have apparently ended up in court under a civil prosecution apparently filed by the San Bernardino District Attorney.
We say ‘apparently’ because it’s a little hard to tell exactly what’s happening.
An RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) press release here goes on about the ‘prosecution’. But there’s so much fulsome RIAA verbiage that it’s difficult to figure out.
However, “The owners of the Waterman Discount Mall and Indoor Swap, Ho Suh Jin and Gustavo Zarate, were repeatedly advised that vendors on their premises were blatantly hawking pirated CDs and failed to take any proactive steps to address the illegal activity,” apparently.
But did Ho Suh Jin and Gustavo Zarate go rushing to said vendors telling them to Cease and Desist? No! They did not. They even failed to act ‘proactively’.
Shame, on you Jin and Zarate. Shame!
Who were the blatantly hawking pirates Jin and Zarate failed to identifiy and then arrest under citizen warrants (we assume from reading between the lines, which is about all we can do)? And what’s going to happen to said pirates?
Come to that, what’s going to happen to Jin and Zarate? And when? And under what charge?
The RIAA doesn’t say. Nor is there a quote from district attorney Michael A. Ramos, which may or may not be significant.
However since, as the RIAA is at pains to point out, this is the first ever civil charge, flea market and swap-meet owners-or-operators across the US had better start cruising their stalls looking for trouble on behalf of the RIAA. And if they find any, they’d better hot-foot it to the local DA’s office. Or else.
“We are grateful for the efforts of district attorney Michael A. Ramos and his team,” says RIAA president Cary Sherman warmly. “This action represents an important milestone - for swap meet owners who think they can profit from piracy, civil charges are a reality. This strong deterrent should further up the ante for those who think they can flout the law and rob artists, songwriters, music publishers and record companies by illegally selling copyrighted music.”
Flout the law and rob artists, songwriters, music publishers and record companies by illegally selling copyrighted music indeed!
Hear Hear, Cary! Hear Hear !
In the meanwhile, rumours that the RIAA is issuing shiny *I’m an RIAA Deputy* badges and a DIY ‘Find the Counterfeiter’ kit to be financed by local authorities and handed out by state law enforcement agencies in behalf of the RIAA may, or may not be, true, say more or less informed insider sources.
