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The law in this area is horribly stacked against any individual caught up in such a case, with the full legal weight of the music industry bearing down on him.
by grellas 17y ago
The law in this area is horribly stacked against any individual caught up in such a case, with the full legal weight of the music industry bearing down on him.
See this write-up from earlier today (http://bit.ly/qMtUe http://bit.ly/qMtUe) on how Joel Tenenbaum was basically worn down on the stand until he wound up finally admitting to liability.
Once he did that, the judge took that issue away from the jury. This means the jury was instructed that the defendant was already found liable and that their sole job was to pick a damage number using the federal statutory guidelines.
The judge had already gutted major parts of the defense before the case ever got to trial (for example, fair use was tossed out as a defense).
In such a context, even a sympathetic jury could have done little or nothing, though it appears this jury was not sympathetic.
The bullying tactics used by the music industry in these cases are atrocious and represent among the worst that the law has to offer. What is needed here is a broader solution likely involving a revamp of the copyright laws.
- jacquesm 17y agoThe music industry is not helping themselves by winning these cases. I know that sounds contradictory but people that otherwise couldn't care less are getting worked up about this. The bigger the amount the worse the PR. People are not scared, they're angry.
- jrockway 17y agoOn the other hand, the average person tends to enjoy watching something bad happen to some other person. Especially when they "violated the law". This, I think, is why the prisons in the US are so inhumane. "Those criminials deserve to be tortured."
- cellis 17y agoI actually think you're wrong, sadly. People in the real world, people that are likely to download songs, are not digital cognoscenti like members of HN. They read about this (or watch it on TV, most likely) and think "Shit! Tell Johnny to stop downloading!". Fear tactics do work. So, i would bet that the RIAA is very happy about the message they are sending.
- jacquesm 17y agoIf they would be happy they'd continue these tactics. They are realizing that they are losing the PR battle fast so they've decided to stop these cases, new ones are not being brought. To avoid setting bad precedent they have to continue the ones that are in court (or they'd open themselves up to all kinds of trouble wrt to the fees they've already received in settlements, a good case could be made for extortion: "look, as soon as a case goes to court they drop it") Or that's my understanding of it, maybe some legal whiz here can shine some light on that.