Patent Law

The Unbearable Density of the RIAA on the Change-iest Day of the Year

By Les Weinstein, Michael Young, John Leo Wagner, Eric van Ginkel, and Victoria Pynchon

From Wired:

The Recording Industry Association of America is objecting to the webcasting of pretrial arguments in an upcoming file-sharing trial.

The RIAA claims that the re-runs "will be readily subject to editing and manipulation by any reasonably tech-savvy individual."

That is among the arguments the RIAA is making in urging a federal appeals court to reverse a Massachusetts federal judge's order that would allow the pretrial broadcast this Thursday. The broadcast, assuming it goes forward, will include a Boston University student and his attorney challenging the RIAA's copyright infringement case. It is believed to be the first time a U.S. federal trial court has allowed a live internet stream from the courtroom.

"Petitioners are concerned that, unlike a trial transcript, the broadcast of a court proceeding through the internet will take on a life of its own in that forum," the RIAA wrote (.pdf) the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals. "The broadcast will be readily subject to editing and manipulation by any reasonably tech-savvy individual. Even without improper modification, statements may be taken out of context, spliced together with other statements and broadcast (sic) rebroadcast as if it were an accurate transcript.

Such an outcome can only do damage to Petitioner's case."

For full article, click here.  Thanks to Gwynne Monahan tweeting as @econwriter5.

Full post as published by IP ADR Blog on January 20, 2009 (boomark / email).