Law Technology

Making a Copy of Your Own CD is a Crime

By Brett Trout, Esq.

At least according to the head of Litigation for Sony BMG, Jennifer Pariser. Ms. Pariser stated that making a copy of your CD for your own personal use constitutes stealing. And the RIAA appears to agree. A post by arstechnica, notes that just last week the RIAA filed a brief in Atlantic v. Howell, stating unequivocally that MP3 copies defendant made of his own CDs were "unauthorized."

See You Have to Buy the CD, and the MP3, and the ...
Apparently aware that the demise of DRM is a foregone conclusion, the RIAA appears to be taking the stand that the only allowable electronic version of a song is one you purchased as an electronic version and never moved from its original download file. At some point it would seem the RIAA'a arguments would start failing to pass the laugh test and start garnering them sanctions under the Copyright Act, or at least warrant attorney fees for the defendant.

And Anything Else We Think Of
I guess the first step would be for these defendants to stop representing themselves. Not only do they lose out on the availability of attorney fees under the Copyright Act, but they stand a very good chance of setting horrible precedent. Each bad case inches us ever closer to the RIAA's apparent vision of a everyone paying separately for each song for each player they want to use.

Brett Trout

RIAA downloading Atlantic v. Howell

Full post as published by Blawg IT on December 11, 2007 (boomark / email).