Ars Technica says that the RIAA filed a brief last week that claimed that mp3 files ripped from a defendant’s own CDs were “unauthorized.”

Atlantic v. Howell is a bit unusual because the defendants, husband and wife Jeffrey and Pamela Howell, are defending themselves against the recording industry’s lawsuit without the benefit of a lawyer. They were sued by the RIAA in August 2006 after an investigator from SafeNet discovered evidence of file-sharing over the KaZaA network.

The Howells have denied any copyright infringement on their part. In their response to the RIAA’s lawsuit, they said that the MP3 files on their PC are and “always have been” for private use. “The files in question are for transfer to portable devices, that is legal for ‘fair use,'” reads their response.

Previously, during the Jammie Thomas trial, Jennifer Pariser, head of litigation for Sony BMG, said that making copies of music you own for your own personal use is “stealing.”

“When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song. Making “a copy” of a purchased song is just “a nice way of saying ‘steals just one copy’,” she said.

RIAA: Those CD rips of yours are still “unauthorized” [Ars Technica]

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