Copyright Law

North Carolina State University "John Doe #2" doesn't exist, MediaSentry report apparently false, reports Technician Online

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

Readers may recall that in the RIAA's "John Doe" case against 38 North Carolina State University students in Raleigh, North Carolina, LaFace v. Does 1-38, the judge dismissed the case as to all John Does except Doe Number 2, due to the fact that there was no basis for joining the different John Does in a single lawsuit.

As it turns out, according to a report from Technician Online, "John Doe #2" doesn't actually exist:

Students win first battle with RIAA
Judge rules in favor of the students' motion to quash a set of lawsuits dished out by the Recording Industry
Josh Harrell
Issue date: 3/12/08 Section: News

In the first public fight against the Recording Industry Association of America since the group first started passing out lawsuits two years ago, eight students won a motion to quash on Feb. 27, as a judge ruled to drop the lawsuits.

And on Monday, Greensboro attorney Stephen Robertson filed a second motion to quash with four new students against the RIAA in hopes that the judge will drop their lawsuits.

The judge ruling with the students is a positive sign for future cases, according to Pam Gerace, director of Student Legal Services.

The reason the judge ruled against the RIAA, Gerace said, was because the RIAA had filed the lawsuits in bunches, not individually. The judge dropped all of the 34 lawsuits given out in August except for one, noting that lawsuit as one individual lawsuit.

But that lawsuit, labeled Doe No. 2, cannot be found by the ResNet. Typically, the University is able to locate each anonymous downloader by his or her IP addresses. In the case of Doe No. 2 though, the IP address could not be linked to a certain individual.

[Ed. Note. Could this be an indication that the RIAA's unlicensed investigator, MediaSentry, doesn't know what it's doing? Perish the thought. -R.B.]

Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property

Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on March 12, 2008 (boomark / email).