RIAA’s new hatchet men
p2p news / p2pnet: At the beginning of February, in Recording Industry vs The People, Ray Beckerman pointed out that hired legal guns Shook Hardy & Bacon were no longer the Big Four Organized Music cartel’s sue ‘em all representatives.
It seems even S, H&B, who made their bones defending Big Tobacco, couldn’t stomach the music industry, or its RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
The job of suing innocent men, women and children for the non-existent ‘crime’ of sharing music online, is now in the hands of Colorado’s Holme Roberts & Owen but, “If the RIAA thinks that by changing attorneys it can somehow alter the self destructive nature of this litigation onslaught, it is mistaken,” posted Beckerman, continuing:
“If, on the other hand, the change in attorneys signals a change in philosophy and tone, and that present lawsuits will be discontinued, and that lawsuits will only be brought where (a) there is clear evidence of an actual copyright infringement by a defendant, and (b) there has been an unsuccessful good faith attempt to obtain a cease and desist agreement, then this will be a positive development.
“But if the pit bull tactics of the RIAA’s predecessor counsel are continued unabated by the new counsel, this will accomplish nothing except further damage the recording industry, and wreak havoc in people’s lives.”
Now, somewhat belatedly, “Our contract with them [the RIAA] ran out, and they have moved on to a new firm,” the Kansas City Business Journal has Trent Webb, chairman of Shook’s intellectual property litigation practice group, saying.
“The file-sharing cases targeting online music piracy are a potential cash cow for firms capable of handling them,” says the story.
“Two defense lawyers said Shook typically demanded about $4,000 per defendant to settle them, and an RIAA spokeswoman said it has pursued 18,000 separate defendants.
“But the cases, filed in dozens of states, can be expensive to manage: Shook hired a subcontractor to operate a phone bank handling inquiries about the cases, and defense lawyers said the firm may have spent thousands of dollars pursuing judgments against defendants with little money.”
The story neglects to mention that not one of the more than 18,000 victims, who include school children, has yet appeared in court to answer the Big Four’s civil copyright infringement claims.
In florid, dinsingenuous press releases, Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, who are themselves under investigation at both the federal and state levels, call the people they’re suing “criminals” and “thieves” although no crime has been committed and nothing has been stolen.
Patti Santangelo, a New York mother of five, is the first of the 18,000 to stand up to the multi-billion-dollar labels.
At this point, she’s solely supported by p2pnet readers through the Fight Goliath campaign. If you’d like to help her fight the Big Four, make a donation through the PayPal button below.
Or mail your contribution to:
Patti Santangelo
C/O PO Box 274
Hartsdale
New York 10530-0274
Also See:
pointed out – RIAA Changing Law Firms?, February 1, 2006
Kansas City Business Journal – Shook lets RIAA deal play out, March 13, 2006
solely supported – Patti Santangelo fund nears $11.5K, March 5, 2006
March 14th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
Lawyers are part of the oldest profession. They do whatever money pays them to do, so don’t expect changes.
March 14th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
Yes, you mean quixotic whores.
March 15th, 2006 at 1:21 am
Yes, but if they were LOSING money pursuing these frivolous cases, the end may be coming. If S, H & B were charging $4,000 per case and the average settlement was approx. $4.000, with some being even less, it’s a lose-lose stuation for everyone that cannot go on indefinitely. The lawyers were the only ones making any money, and to them it was no longer worth the headaches. Since it has made no impact on filesharing, this is proving to be the big waste of time and money everyone here always knew it was:)
March 15th, 2006 at 5:40 am
“….defense lawyers said the firm may have spent thousands of dollars pursuing judgments against defendants with little money.”
Nah. Could it be (sarcasm intended)?
March 16th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
Again the misguided actions of the RIAA is being shown for just what it is. An organized attempt to frighten average Joe into buying. The money that has been thrown at this action has been money down the drain.
You can bet the RIAA thought this a cash cow, secondary income. Money for the making with little more activity than supplying lawyers to throw at the situtation. With the exposure of the figures it is learned that it isn’t just a few teens here and there but rather it has become a world past-time, steadily picking up more as time goes by and as the RIAA and associated *AA’s advertise in the name of deterence, where to go, what to look for, and the basic theme that average Joe is missing out and best get it while it still exists. Not exactly the message to send out if one is trying to stop a practice.
The RIAA has been short sighted to the idea that this sueing for infringement is a long term death sentence to it’s own. While they may be luckly enough to get a settlement, figures show that most are ignoring them. Simply they don’t have the money, are not going to willingly part with it, and are hoping some sort of sanity comes in the form of legal relief. The statutory penalities that are being used are the equivalent of hunting ants with a howitzer. Those penalities neither reflect the true damage to the industry, nor do they reflect the true intentions of the public as far as file sharing goes. Those penalities were to be used against those that made and sold bootleg copies, not for some poor family that isn’t going to make a dime on the situtation. The end result of this sue’em all may be that one victim pays up in the short term but the long term assures it is also a from then on non-customer. Not only is the victim a non-customer but everyone in the immeadiate circle will also hear of the dirty dealings applied to them from an industry gone rogue and rabid. The end result is far more that won’t buy added to the list from the law suit and that is the long term death sentence for the industry.
The hatchet men are accomplishing one thing for sure, the long term termination of steady loyal viewers into the one’s that will turn to other places to spend their entertainment dollars. There’s some really rocky times coming for the industry and it is of their own making. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch in my opinion.