University of San Francisco Law Clinic Joins Fight Against RIAA 106
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The RIAA's litigation campaign has met resistance from the academic community before, but now it's been taken to a whole new level: the defense of RIAA victims who are not part of the college community. First the University of Oregon lashed out on behalf of its students, then it was the University of Maine's Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic on behalf of its undergrads. Now, the University of San Francisco School of Law has taken the fight a giant step further. Its Intellectual Property Law Clinic's attorneys-in-training, working under the supervision of law professors, are going to bat against the RIAA by helping outside lawyers to defend their clients, pro bono. They reached out 3000 miles to get involved in Elektra v. Torres and Maverick v. Chowdhury, two cases going on in Brooklyn, NY, against non-college defendants. Two of the law students in the USF's legal program assisted in the research and preparation of briefs in these cases, opposing the RIAA's motion to dismiss the defendants' counterclaims. Thousands of honor students throughout United States law schools, most of them digital natives who actually understand the legal fallacies and technological missteps the RIAA is taking, and who can't wait to expose them, make a pretty good resource for the poor and middle class people trying to defend these cases."
Get your own blog! (Score:5, Funny)
Come on, NewYorkCountryLawyer, Slashdot isn't your personal outlet! Get your own blog.
Maybe something like http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]?
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Just saying...
Re:Get your own blog! (Score:5, Funny)
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"The Ents! zomg the Ents!! wtf! all my creeps are attacking ur town! No fair fucking imba!" -Sauruman
I mean, like, the RIAA didn't see this coming and stuff and now their townz is gone and....
Sorry
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Re:Get your own blog! (Score:4, Insightful)
If you care about Your Rights Online, I think both his stories and his comments are to the point and well written and at least HIAL. If you don't care about your rights online, you can choose not to see that section in your preferences.
NewYorkCountryLawyer, keep up the good work!
Re:Get your own blog! (Score:5, Informative)
Wow you missed the sarcasm and the joke.
http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com] IS run by Ray Beckerman. I'm a big fan of his, and his contributions to Slashdot. That post my subtle way of directing people to another source of information.
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I'm sorry for that, I guess I'm not used to subtleties on slashdot :-$ Good thing you can still get modded up for missing jokes here...
I was aware that that was his blog; I thought you were telling him that since he has a blog over there he should stop harassing us with his frequent posts and stories. Anyway...
NYCL: keep up the good work :-)
Others: go forth and multiply the HTTP GET requests [blogspot.com]
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Wow you missed the sarcasm and the joke. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com] IS run by Ray Beckerman. I'm a big fan of his, and his contributions to Slashdot. That post my subtle way of directing people to another source of information.
Wow you missed the sarcasm and the joke. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com] IS run by Ray Beckerman. I'm a big fan of his, and his contributions to Slashdot. That post my subtle way of directing people to another source of information. Thanks kaos. Much appreciated.
By the way, let me tell you, someone just pointed out to me the other day that I'd missed some Slashdot sarcasm, and he was right; it's really easy to do. But it's part of what makes Slashdot fun, the dry humor delivered straight.
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I dunno, just to piss off kaos07?
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I like the posts of NewYorkCountryLawyer, and if the editors or readers of slashdot would get sick of them they would not get past the firehose. And if slashdot were against people keeping journals and submitting them as stories, why do you think "Slashdot journal entries can be automatically submitted as stories"? If you care about Your Rights Online, I think both his stories and his comments are to the point and well written and at least HIAL. If you don't care about your rights online, you can choose not to see that section in your preferences. NewYorkCountryLawyer, keep up the good work!
Thank you for your kind words, mrvan.
Are they just lazy? (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess what I'm asking is, are they just lazy or just stupid?
Answer: (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Are they just lazy? (Score:5, Insightful)
They represent the Big Four music producers, and are only answerable to them
That is the problem - They have no Copyright (of their own) to defend, they have no customers to care about....
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That is the problem - They have no Copyright (of their own) to defend, they have no customers to care about....
The big four that they represent own the copyrights. The Corporate Owned Congress made musical recordings "works for hire" granting copyright to the record company, not the people who actualkly perform the music.
As Lynard Skynard said,
Want you to sign the contract
Want you to sign today
Gonna make lots of money
Workin' fo
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"I'm taking my ball and going home!
All you need to know about music ownership (Score:2)
Yup, exactly right. All anyone needs to know about music ownership, the big labels, and the RIAA is summed up nicely in this comic. [imageshack.us]
Enjoy.
Why Software Should Not Have Owners (Score:3, Interesting)
Digital information technology contributes to the world by making it easier to copy and modify information. Computers promise to make this easier for all of us.
Not everyone wants it to be easier. The system of copyright gives software programs "owners", most of whom aim to withhold software's potential benefit from the rest of the public. They would like to be the only ones who can copy and modify the software that we use.
The copyright system grew up with printing-
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Or, if you prefer:
gu;dr (gnu url. Didn't read)
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Also to be convicted of selling or distributing copywritten material, you typically have to a) charge for it and b) prove that you actually distributed it. But the RIAA is trying to say just "making it available" is the same. This isn't supported in case law (yet...).
I just can't wait until someone hits them with something like RICO.
Quote of the moment (Score:5, Insightful)
Would be great if this is the children that have been sued bankrupt for musicdownloads that finally (in time) sues the MAFIAA out of business. But being pesimi... erh, I mean, realistic, I'm not going to hold my breath...
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Honestly... (Score:2, Interesting)
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Future scaping? (Score:1)
Re:Future scaping? (Score:5, Insightful)
Back in the seventies, we young people all smoked pot. Now that my genertation's rich people have taken over from the last generation's rich people, is it legal? Hell no, the assshats running things all deny ever having touched the stuff. Well, one famous asshat former doper claims he tried it once but never inhaled, as if he were talking to a nation of idiots. Well maybe he was.
But at any rate, I think when you in your twenties now are my age, your generation's rich people that become lawmakers are no more going to restore copyright to reasonable terms and legalize noncommercial copying than my generation's rich people that became lawmakers legalized the marijuana that nearly every single one of them broke the law smoking in the seventies.
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OK, that may be a little unfair to a few of them. But really, looking at it statistically, rich old people in power aren't really the best choice unless you want cynical people that could sell their own mother and afterwards convince everyone that it was for her own good.
Age may reflect wisdom, but it also reflects stagnation and cynicism. Riches may refl
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I have great respect for prostitutes. They perform a needed service for society, and frankly, it appalls me that my countrymen villify them.
Cautionary Note (Score:4, Funny)
When you find a new super weapon and decide to use it to help the people, it almost always backfires.
We are cheering the fact that MORE lawyers are being created.
What will happen when they finish with the RIAA?
"It won't stop at anything, and it will never stop hunting you until you are dead."
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What will happen when they finish with the RIAA?
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Which "sacred human rights" you're talking about that the government is violating (which I presume to mean "is violating unconstitutionally")?
Executive suspension of habeaus corpus has been constitutional since at least as long as the Civil War and Ex parte Milligan [wikipedia.org].
Performing search without probable cause but with reasonable suspicion (as in, reasonable suspicion that you have already, or are about to,
Re:good for the proto-lawyers! (Score:4, Interesting)
Which "sacred human rights" you're talking about that the government is violating (which I presume to mean "is violating unconstitutionally")?
The constitution, albeit a fine document, is not the be-all and end-all of human rights; not least because it is somewhat limited in the people to whom it applies. While I will freely admit that the US gov. has a positively sparkling human rights record compared to some, I note that the country is still not party to, for example, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [wikipedia.org] among others.
Apologies for being somewhat OT here, but the difference between human rights law in general and the US constitution is an important one and I think it important not to blur the difference.
Re:good for the proto-lawyers! (Score:4, Insightful)
That's a good thing, since none of the items listed in that covenant are actual human rights. There's a simple litmus test for whether a proposed "right" is reasonable: can you exercise the "right" in the absence of other human beings to exploit? In this case the answer is clearly "no"; their so-called "rights" cannot be exercised except by making one or more other people worse off than they would be otherwise.
Re:good for the proto-lawyers! (Score:5, Informative)
Apologies for being somewhat OT here, but the difference between human rights law in general and the US constitution is an important one and I think it important not to blur the difference.
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You might want to read this old journal [slashdot.org] from last month where I chronicle how my fourth amendment rights against unwarranted search were violated TWICE last year. Or would you posit that it's OK for the police to search YOUR garage without a warrant or even your knowlege because a strange woman, who had not been accused of any crime by anyone, had been prowling around
Best practical project ever. (Score:5, Interesting)
Actual cases with a lot of what every defence lawyer is looking for: Suspense, Lying, Cheating, Inexpert Witnesses, Corporate Greed, Perjury, Farfetched application of laws...
This would be great. You could probably make a TV series out of it even!
(Okay okay.. Some of this is tongue in cheeck, but the basic premise is obvious: This is great material for law students to study and participate in. They get a real life example of how screwed up and convoluted cases can get)
And maybe, just maybe this'll breed a generation of lawyers not hellbent on making Escheresque pictures out of the law.
Noooooooooo! (Score:2)
Please don't give David E Kelley any ideas.
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Re:you are going to lose (Score:5, Interesting)
It doesn't expire. The DMCA is unConstitutional on its face. The RIAA are trying to enforce an illegal law. Enforced by a corrupt judicial system.
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2 bring suit in federal court claiming the law is un-constitutional
That's gonna happen. It's as slam dunk a case as you can get. And it will invalidate completely the entirety of all copyright law, since the SC itself is not allowed to amend the length of the term.
3 don't buy any, or buy a lot less, copyrighted stuff (even independents, if they aren't on board, are a part of the problem)
4 sue the RIAA lawyers and music industry executives for RICO violations, seize their personal civil assets and freeze their corporate assets for the restitution fund, put them in jail
5 de
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So is the Bono Act, but the Supreme Court says it isn't, that "limited" means whatever Congress says it means. That of course means that every word in the Constitution means whatever Congress says it means. Which means that the Constitution is now completely meaningless, and we no longer have rule of law but rule of men.
Encryption doesn't expire? (Score:2)
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Re:you are going to lose (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually it's about the methods the RIAA is using. It's very important to do everything possible to prevent this sort of thing being seen as okay, or even normal, "so long as they're catching the bad guys". Just like it's not generally considered okay for the police to break the law in order to make an arrest, no matter how bad the guy they're arresting is, because it sets precedents of "acceptable behaviour" that are ultimately far more detrimental to society than the acts of even lots of individual bad guys.
Same deal here. If the RIAA can use these sorts of tactics with impunity, then so can everyone else with enough money. Even though some - indeed, probably almost all - of the people being sued did infringe on someone's copyrights, the harm they did pales in comparison to the harm these kind of abuses of the law would do to society if they became (even more) widespread.
It's not just the RIAA, but the fact that it's hard to show actual harm or even deprivation of income from copyright infringement seems to make this a more morally appealing battlefront than others.
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The RIAA's tactics violate (a) copyright law (b) federal procedural law (c) constitutional due process and (d) morality.
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Double Standards (Score:3, Interesting)
Honestly speaking RIAA and MPAA are not loosing anything near what they claim.
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I dont Understand this RIAA Crap. The other day i was watching the Movie JUNO. A character in the movie burns a CD containing some songs for Juno. Now is that not illegal according to RIAA? Why not raise a voice against that rather than draggin their ass behind innocent students??
Honestly speaking RIAA and MPAA are not loosing anything near what they claim.
They are if each song download costs them $750 as they have once claimed.
So I owe the RIAA $11,250,000.00 wow!
~Dan
Re:Double Standards-I First Thought... (Score:2)
I first thought you meant that she destroyed it by tossing it into a fire. And that this was a comment on the lousy quality of current music, and its obvious destructive effect on teenagers and preteens (witness that Juno herself is pregnant at age 15).
Only after rereading your post a couple more times did I realize that you meant that they showed the creation of an illegal CD in a CD burner.
First it was drug use in the movies that had
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What happens now? (Score:4, Insightful)
How it ends does not matter so much (Score:4, Interesting)
It is, in some way, perhaps the beginnings of the fight against the corporate control of America. It is definitely a fight against IP and copyright run amok, as well as shady lawyer tactics. It's not clear cut when looking at only one case but if you look at the situation on the whole, the RIAA still needs to get some wins in court somewhere. Add to this what is happening to MS and others in the EU with regard to their business practices a picture begins to form about the general state of play in courtrooms around the globe. In Russia schools are moving to F/OSS because of legal action. The EU lobbed a 1.3Billion Dollar fine against MS. US law students are fighting against the **AA. Of course that is only a few of the cases. The big picture is that the fight against software IP, extended copyright laws, and bad corporate tactics is taking shape one case at a time.
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Just like doctors and programmers keep current, so do lawyers. Age doesn't keep one from learning, and it doesn't keep one from being able to understand technology.
Now get off my lawn!
-mcgrew
Law Clinic? (Score:4, Funny)
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Intellectual or imaginary? (Score:2, Insightful)
Even a literate layman who takes the time to read the US Constitution can see that the concept of intellectual "property" is unamerican. "To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discover
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Excellent Class Project (Score:2)
It seems to me that every law school clinic in the country should be doing the same thing--there'd be no shortage of students willing to participate. But if every law school doesn't do this, the ones that
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That's what this is. The best way to teach a subject is through the medium of something the student is interested in and cares about. What better way to instruct a generation of legal professionals on the previously arcane area of copyright law than to enlist them in the fight to bring down the RIAA/MPAA? It seems to me that every law school clinic in the country should be doing the same thing--there'd be no shortage of students willing to participate. But if every law school doesn't do this, the ones that do should play it up in their marketing material to prospective students. Most kids go to law school because they want to help others; imagine how exciting it would be to lead the fight to help your peers against the most hated company and industry in the world.
I would not be surprised to see many follow suit.
By the way, speaking of "class project", did you see Professor Nesson at Harvard Law School assigned a project of drafting a motion to quash an RIAA subpoena [blogspot.com]?
Gotta like that guy.
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2: Fuck the MPAA
and while I am at it,
3: Fuck Microsoft.
Trust me, they're all lousy in bed.
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A New Legal Argument (Score:3, Interesting)
It does not matter what the source is or what format we have it in. We are purchasing a license to listen at our leisure to a song or watch a movie. We can have a thousand copies because we can only listen to one at a time. Somebody needs to argue this in court. That we are in fact purchasing a license to listen, not a piece of plastic or a digital file of zero's and ones.
This is the New legal justification for open downloads of music or copy righted material:
In fact the record labels need to, I think legally provide, free downloads of music. The record companies have not provided a way for me to enjoy my license to listen if the CD gets scratched, as it is now they force us to buy a new license they should probably reimburse anyone who has had to buy more than one license because of damage media.
I noticed about 10 years ago CDs became very easy to scratch not the bottom but the top. I wonder if this was by design to produce more sales? If so then the recording industry owes the consumers money
Because the carrier medium can be damaged we should all be able to get a download of a new instance of the song we paid for from the Internet if we purchased the license to listen to it. Since the record companies have not provided a way for us to get a replacement copy the Internet downloads can ethically be justified.
Truth is we don't need the record companies anymore. We can all buy from the artists direct and vote with a link what is most popular. I would be happy to pay the creative talent directly without the huge middle man cut. Another things is corporate pressure to maintain the status quo system cannot be put on artists by large corporations.
Hopefully someone will get this into the hands of the attorneys for the defendants.
Technically based on quantum physics there is only one copy of a piece of music in the universe. This exists in the intangible realm; all tangible manifestations of this one copy are simply a physical conveyance of this one real instance. It is an information universe, everything is ultimately just information.
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Actually, the "top" of the CD is more important than the bottom. The actual data is burned into the very thin layer of writeable material thats on the "bottom" of the top layer of the CD. Try scratching off the pretty picture from a music CD and see if it plays.
Re:A New Legal Argument-MOD +1 Insightful (Score:2)
That's worth repeating. Excellent insight.
What Took Them So Long? (Score:2)
You know you're evil when (Score:2, Funny)