Copyright Law

Wired.com covering the Capitol v. Thomas argument

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

As he did during the trial in Capitol v. Thomas, David Kravets of Wired.com, author of "Threat Level", is providing in-person coverage of this morning's oral argument.

Here are some extracts from his first report of the morning:

Arguments in Jammie Thomas RIAA Case Starting Soon
By David Kravets August 04, 2008 | 10:35:18

DULUTH, Minnesota ? Threat Level is here outside U.S. District Judge Michael Davis' courtroom ahead of a scheduled 10 a.m. central time hearing in the Jammie Thomas file sharing case, the nation's first such case to go to trial.....

............
He wants to hear arguments on whether to declare a mistrial for an instruction he read to the jury. He told panelists, which took five minutes to decide her liability, that the young mother of two was liable for copyright infringement if Thomas she was "making copyrighted sound recordings available" over a peer-to-peer network "regardless of whether actual distribution has been shown."

Law professors and digital rights groups have lined up on Thomas' side, saying the RIAA must prove infringement under the Copyright Act, which carries fines up to $150,000 per track. There's no such thing as implied, or attempted copyright infringement, they said.

...............
Threat Level will provide news of developments as quickly as possible. It is not known whether the judge will rule Monday.

The judge does not allow computers in his courtroom.......

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 August 04, 2008 (boomark / email).