Judge postpones hearing in key RIAA lawsuit

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Ronald J Riley \(RJR Com\)" <rjr () rjriley com>
Date: December 17, 2008 11:05:09 AM EST
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: Judge postpones hearing in key RIAA lawsuit

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10123795-38.html?tag=nl.e703

December 15, 2008 6:06 PM PST
Judge postpones hearing in key RIAA lawsuit

“So far, Gertner has seemed frustrated by the large number of RIAA- 
named defendants who have shown up in her courtroom, typically lacking  
lawyers and without much knowledge of what their rights and  
obligations are under the law.

One hint at her possible receptivity to the Harvard students' argument  
can be found in her remarks at a hearing earlier this year: "There is  
a huge imbalance in these cases. The record companies are represented  
by large law firms with substantial resources. The law is also  
overwhelmingly on their side. They bring cases against individuals,  
individuals who don't have lawyers and who don't understand their  
legal rights...the formalities of this are basically bankrupting  
people...At a certain point after 133 cases in my court and countless  
around the country, the plaintiffs are going to realize this is making  
no sense and making them look bad."

Follow the link for the whole article.

I am a big supporter of intellectual property rights but RIAA and the  
other parties outrageous conduct has gone on far too long.  Their  
constant attempts to erode fair use rights, their abuse of the process  
of law, and their general mindset that enforcement of their rights  
should be everyone’s duty has become untenable.  We need to repeal the  
DRM laws because they are almost totally ineffective and they are  
being grossly misused.

There is no question that RIAA’s business model is no longer viable.   
They need to accept that reality and develop one that works.

I suspect that most of the problems this industry faces are a result  
of them pricing themselves out of the market.  They have too many  
people taking a cut.

RIAA or some other entity could go to direct online sales, cutting out  
middlemen.  Take it a step further, how about cutting out the record  
labels completely and have this direct marketing entity work directly  
with musicians?  What if they set up a music registry and when people  
buy a song or a collection of songs that their rights are recorded in  
the registry?  The purchaser could then go back at any time and  
download the song.  Say they charge 25 to 50 cents for the first  
purchase and 10 cents for subsequent downloads.  At this price would  
most people bother to steal?

Ronald J. Riley,

Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.patentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased  
founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.




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