Judge Rakoff Clobbers mp3.com
Rakoff: "mp3.com not immune from copyright law"
Public and Media Asleep on this Issue
September 6, 2000
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff this week found that mp3.com willfully violated the copyrights of Universal Music Group, and ordered the Internet music sharing company to pay Universal $25,000 per compact disc, a move the Judge felt was extremely lenient. Independent analysts estimated the costs could range from $117 million up to as much as $900 million.
Michael Robertson, chairman and chief executive officer of mp3.com promised a quick appeal.
"We believe that everyone should have the right to listen to the music they purchase, even if it's on the Internet," Robertson said, "While we respect the court, we disagree with the court's decision and we look forward to taking our case to the court of appeals."
While Judge Rakoff continued to completely overlook consumers rights to copy music they had rightfully purchased, he did see some merit in the mp3.com approach of making the stored files totally non-duplicatable. He could have chosen an award of up to $150,000 per CD as authorized by the federal copyright statute. Rakoff stated he felt mp3.com acted more responsibly than other Internet music startups.
Universal wanted up to $450 million, claiming MP3.com had copied 5,000 to 10,000 of its CDs onto the database. Music is a media and the next infringement may be very different," said Universal lawyer Hadrian Katz. "It may be video or it may be film or it may be books or it may be something very different."
The other major recording companies had agreed to settle with mp3.com, seeing the service as the least of all possible evils. However Universal has their own competing service Farmclub.com and saw no value in settling with a major competitor.
Sony Corp., Time Warner Inc., EMI Group and Bertelsmann agreed to a settlement offer made by mp3.com after the April ruling. The companies allowed their music to be used by mp3.com and settled for undisclosed amounts, which various media analysts have estimated at $20 to $25 million each.
"We built technology that lets people listen to their own CD collections," Mr. Robertson stated, "We think the law needs to accommodate consumers' need to listen to their own CD collections online in a digital form."
The WIZARD couldn't agree more. The judge is essentially ruling that, although it is permissible for an individual to copy a purchased piece of music, if that individual asks his mother to do it for him (or her), Mom can be arrested. mp3.com made the argument that all they did was save time and bandwidth by pre-recording the copy. No individual could use this copy unless they already owned the CD. The judge didn't buy this technological leap.
However, the WIZARD believes that every library in the world is operating illegally under Rakoff's interpretation. No library has ever obtained permission before loaning out a CD. And they don't check to see if the borrower already owns a copy.
The next phase of the trial in November will determine the number of CD's involved. Universal claims 5,000 to 10,000 copyrights are at issue. MP3.com's lawyers believe it's more like 4,740, but said they planned to challenge the eligibility of virtually all of Universal's copyright registrations.
Network and Cable Analysts Didn't Understand Issues
The WIZARD was doubly disappointed to review the newscasts and cable shows Wednesday evening. Without exception news anchors and analysts do not understand the mp3.com model and the issues involved in the lawsuit. Inevitably they confused mp3.com with the downloading of music files offered by Napster. Not one show review by the WIZARD mentioned mp3's key differences from Napster:
- Users MUST already own the CD in question and PROVE ownership
- The file stored on mp3.com cannot be copied in any way or fashion, only played
Every newscaster talked about mp3.com as a way to illegally steal music and rob the poor artists from their rightfully deserved income. The WIZARD is saddened and appalled by this lack of understanding of the important issues at stake in this case.
And we are doubly troubled by the misinformation fed to the viewing public.
|
