Why does anyone download anything for free off the Internet that we shouldn’t be? Because the odds are that you won’t be caught, and if you are, well how could you be made to pay up when so many others are doing the same thing? For one Minnesota woman accused of sharing songs on the Internet, forking over $222,000 to the music industry could very well be her reality, after she lost in a federal court of appeals. She’s been battling the Recording Industry Association of America since way back in 2006. [More]
Woman On The Hook For $220K In Online Music Sharing Saga After Losing Appeal In Third Trial
By September 12, 2012
Google Switches Up Its Search Engine To Shun Sites Suspected Of Peddling Pirated Content
By August 13, 2012
Google is making some tweaks in how its search engine runs in order to crack down on any sites that could possibly be promoting or hosting pirated entertainment content. As for why, well, there are a few prevailing thoughts. Perhaps it’s because the entertainment industry wouldn’t get off Google’s back for letting users find free movies and music on the Internet or maybe Google just wants to impress the cool kids of Hollywood so it doesn’t get sued. [More]
Record Companies Reportedly Hiring Students To Snitch On Their Peers
By June 12, 2012
It seems recording companies would rather not do the dirty work of seeking out students pirating music, instead hiring other students to snitch on their peers over in Europe. The four big labels — EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner –Â are reportedly working on anti-piracy strategies with companies who will go to great lengths to take down students. [More]
People Are Actually Buying Music Again
By March 6, 2012
Reports of the music industry’s death may be premature. According to the results of a new study, not only are more people buying music, but some are doing so after hearing the tunes for free on the Internet. [More]
RIAA On Illegal Dexter Downloads: "It Wasn't Us"
By December 21, 2011
Earlier this week, we told you about how the torrent freaks at TorrentFreak claimed to have discovered that some people at anti-piracy stalwart the Recording Industry Association of America had been illegally using BitTorrent to download copyrighted material, including five full seasons of Showtime hit Dexter. RIAA has since come out with an explanation, one that sounds exactly like the defense used by the very people it has pushed to have prosecuted — “it wasn’t us.” [More]
Report: Someone At The RIAA Downloaded $9 Million Worth Of Pirated Dexter Episodes
By December 20, 2011
The hallowed halls of the Recording Industry Association of America, where all music is bought at full price and never shared, lest people face violations of up to $150,000 per pirated item, has reportedly been infiltrated by ne’er-do-wells who think they can BitTorrent copyrighted material at work and not be caught. [More]
Appeals Court Rules $675,000 File-Sharing Judgment Is Constitutional After All
By September 19, 2011
Last year, a Boston college student caught a break when a judge reduced an earlier file-sharing judgment against him from $675,000 to $67,500, calling the earlier figure unconstitutional. Now a federal appeals court has wiped that relief away by deciding the Constitution is cool after all with the $675,000 fee and has reinstated the earlier judgment. [More]
Tennessee Lawmakers Pass Bill Making It A Crime To Share Your Netflix Password
By June 1, 2011
If you’ve ever let a friend or family member know your password for subscription services like Netflix or Rhapsody so they can watch a movie or listen to a song, we hope you don’t live in Tennessee, where state legislators have passed a bill making it a crime. [More]
California Law Would Allow Raids Of Suspected Piracy Facilities Without Warrants
By May 19, 2011
If anti-piracy California legislation becomes law, authorities will be able to enter facilities suspected of pirating movie and music discs and seize equipment without first receiving warrants. [More]
LimeWire To Pay $105 Million To Record Labels
By May 13, 2011
Last October, a federal court shut down peer-to-peer file-sharing service LimeWire. Yesterday, the defunct company agreed to fork over $105 million to to settle a copyright infringement suit brought by 13 record labels. [More]
Jury Slaps File Sharer With $1.5 Million Penalty Over 24 Songs
By November 4, 2010
The third time was not the charm for Jamie Thomas-Rasset, who has spent the last several years wrapped up legal wranglings with the Recording Industry Association of America over 24 songs she downloaded through Kazaa back when people still used Kazaa. The latest development — a jury in her third trial has found her liable for $1.5 million ($62,500/song) in damages to Capitol Records. [More]
Federal Court Shuts Down LimeWire With Permanent Injunction
By October 26, 2010
LimeWire, the Gnutella-based peer-to-peer file-sharing service, is no more. Major record labels, also known as file-sharers’ archnemesis the RIAA, obtained an injunction from a U.S. District Court judge in New York City that stops Limewire from distributing their software or facilitating any file-sharing. [More]
Judge Slashes RIAA's $675,000 File Sharing Award To $67,500
By July 10, 2010
A federal judge yesterday bench slapped the Recording Industry of America, calling a jury’s $675,000 verdict against file sharer Joel Tenenbaum both eye-popping and unconstitutional. The judge struck a strikingly populist tone in reducing the verdict to $67,500, arguing that the same legal reasoning that protects large corporations from excessive punitive damages also protects “ordinary people” like Tenenbaum. [More]
4 Years And 2 Trials Later, The $1.92 Million RIAA Case Continues
By June 22, 2010
Remember Jammie Thomas-Rasset? She was accused of sharing 24 songs on Kazaa in 2006. Two trials and four years later, the case still isn’t over. They’re now trying to avoid a third trial. [More]
Like Everything Else Copyright Problems Are Simpler On TV
By June 9, 2010
In TV Land, where murders are solved and prosecuted in an hour and family issues are wrapped up in a cool 30 minutes there is a new problem being simplified — copyright infringement. Despite being brought to us by Rupert Murdoch, Fox’s Glee is full of depictions of behavior that News Corp supposedly objects too. [More]
Pirate Bay Spreads Word About '$675K Mix Tape Tribute To Nabbed Downloader
By August 17, 2009
Remember Joel Tenenbaum, the guy who was busted for downloading 30 songs and ordered to pay $675,000 to the Recording Industry of America?
30 Songs? That'll Be $675,000
By August 1, 2009
A Boston jury yesterday ruled that file sharer Joel Tenenbaum would have to pay the Recording Industry of America $675,000 for sharing 30 copyrighted songs. The hefty award was all the more surprising because Tenenbaum was represented by a crack team of legal eagles from Harvard’s law school. The trial didn’t unfold nearly the way they planned…
ASCAP Wants Royalties On Ringtones
By July 3, 2009
Not content to let the RIAA get all the recent publicity for stupid lawsuits, ASCAP has sued AT&T over sales of ringtones, saying each time a ringtone plays it’s a public performance and royalties should be paid. Luckily (?) for consumers, ASCAP wants AT&T, not individuals, to pay—although we wonder what they’ll say when you take a track from your own library and make a ringtone out of it.
