RIAA Drops Suit Against Santangelo 190
VE3OGG writes "The RIAA, in an expected motion, has recently dismissed the case against Patti Santangelo, one of the most famous targets of the RIAA lawsuits. The mother of five was described by the judge presiding as an 'internet-illiterate parent, who does not know Kazaa from kazoo.' While this is good news, the RIAA is still pursuing its case against two of Mrs. Santangelo's children. To make matters worse, the RIAA has also dismissed the case 'without prejudice', meaning that they could, in theory, take action against her again later on. The RIAA alleges that Santangelo's children downloaded and subsequently distributed more than 1,000 songs. The damages they seek are presently unknown"
Dismissed vs. Dropped (Score:4, Interesting)
Not that different. (Score:5, Interesting)
None of the behavior of the RIAA is any different from Organized crime.
Wasting judicial resources (Score:4, Interesting)
Kids aren't out of it yet (Score:4, Interesting)
I really would hate to see something happen to the children. They're just another one of the RIAA's "making an example" cases, and it's really not a good example. This sort of legal bullying simply polarizes people into the submissive "Please don't sue me, I'll do anything you want" group, and those that are willing to escalate their grey-area file sharing into actual criminal activity.
Why can't they make an example of one of the "real problems"? You know, the pirates that are making hundreds of millions of dollars off pirated music and movies. I'd like to see those rich criminals go to jail too, and I'd bet that most people on P2P networks would too.
IMO, winning a high-profile case like that would be a terrific example to casual users as well. It'd be like putting drug dealers in jail instead of drug users. You still send the same message "Drugs are bad", but the person who gets punished actually contributes significantly to the problems caused by drugs.
Oh wait. There are no pirates making hundreds of millions of dollars off pirated music and movies. That must be because there are legitimate people making hundreds of millions of dollars off legitimate music and movies. To me, the "real problem" is clearly stated in the last two sentences. Persecute criminals, not their victims or groupies.
mandelbr0t
Generation Blues (Score:4, Interesting)
But they didn't smuggle guns. Maybe they did redistribute some files. In which case they might be liable for negligible damages. And the stupid copyright law should be changed, even if just for the survival of a music biz that obviously can't figure out how to make money from the "remix culture" that is where all the cool kids are. All the RIAA knows how to do is rip off musicians and resell the same crapola in new crapola-wrap, protected by politicians they bribe.
Will the legacy of the RIAA finally be to not only kill Rock & Roll, but to put actual chains on kids by making their parents totally irresponsible?
Re:Wasting judicial resources (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Regarding "with prejudice" (Score:4, Interesting)
Sorry, Harin, you're wrong about that. If they had sought to drop the case prior to the defendant's service of an answer, that would be correct. After service of an answer, it can only be "without prejudice" if the judge allows them to dismiss "without prejudice". It would be highly unusual and irregular for that to happen in a case which has already been so heavily litigated as this one.
The plaintiffs knew even before they'd brought the case that the defendant was not liable. There's no way the judge is just going to let them get away with what they did here.
Re:The poor children, the poor mother (Score:2, Interesting)
My parents had 4 boys, my dad has since adopted two more children (1b/1g).
He also runs volunteer summer camps, coaches soccer teams, and teaches youth groups.
Why? Because he believes people are responsible for molding the future generations.
Don't demean people's decisions because they want or have something you don't. Perspective people.
Hmmph on the RIAA (Score:2, Interesting)
If the RIAA actually represented ARTISTS instead of their own 600 pound gorilla bureaucracy, I'd side with the RIAA over a lot of this music stealing. Unfortunately, the RIAA is a Trade Association (translation: lobbiest group) with "record labels" as supporting members and the "record labels" use ARTISTS as slave labor. Being enslaved is only profitable for relatively few artists because most of them get a monthly statement from the "record label" showing they owe money. Not a single ounce (dollar) of of whatever the RIAA extorts in court goes back to the ARTISTS who were supposedly harmed.
Wouldn't it be great of all the ARTISTS banded together to form their own group to develop, distribute and protect the music they create. Something which would cut all the middle men out of the loop permanently and directly benefit the ARTISTS. I'll bet most people would respect copyright law a little more. Only THEN would I consider paying a blanket tax on products (iPods, recording media etc) instead of putting up with DRM to support ARTISTS.
RIAA isn't dropping the case (Score:4, Interesting)
The article's incorrect. The RIAA isn't dropping the case. They can't, the defendant's already answered their complaint and once defendant's incurred costs plaintiff can't just wash their hands of the case. What they're doing is asking the judge to dismiss their case without prejudice (ie. they can refile the same case in the future). Given the judge's comments to this point I suspect he's going to be disinclined to do that, he'll give them a choice of having it dismissed with prejudice (can't refile) or not dismissing it at all.
Re:I'll ask it... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Dismissed vs. Dropped (Score:5, Interesting)
denebian devil said: "Not to try to disagree with a Real Lawyer..."
Then don't try to disagree with a Real Lawyer.
There are thousands of different types of litigations, actions, and proceedings, and thousands of different procedural contexts. I'm talking about this one.
If you are aware of a federal court copyright case, which has been heavily litigated, has gone through and completed extensive pretrial discovery, and is on the ready trial calendar, in which a plaintiff submitted a 'voluntary dismissal order' which the judge rubber stamped, tell us about it. Otherwise, don't say things which other readers might be misled by were they to give you any credibility.
I notice that one naive soul has already modded your incorrect statement "Interesting".
RIAA Files Suit Against Songwriters, Too (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I'll ask it... (Score:3, Interesting)
And truth be told, even in the "Heavy Metal" segment, many of those that are currently doing reunion tours sound more pop than metal compared to today's music (KISS, for one). If you really start comparing the currently touring bands of yesterday's noise, you'll find that those that are touring shockingly turn out to have melodies in them! Distinguishable melodies, and unique sounds. You can pretty much ID a Judas Priest, ACDC, Scorpions, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Metallica, or Megadeath song in seconds, if you are familiar with their works of course. Oh, and their concerts aren't filled with just 40-50 year olds. Shockingly, a large group of teens and 20-somethings appear to have "discovered" these bands.
Compare that with some of today's tripe (yes, that's leading). There's a group of bands I can't tell apart unless I actually listen to the words and identify it by lyrics. I currently call them "Boy Bands with Guitars", in honor of those incredibly everlasting wunderkindren of yesteryears "Boy Bands", that will be as well-known and honored as Celine Dion in the coming years. This is for a genre that unfortunately has currently taken over airplay from my preferred musical artists. As for the Hip-Hop scene, what little I'm exposed to is either mind-numbingly uniform like club music, or mind-numbingly droll.