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Beckerman: RIAA's 'Vexatious' Charge Reeks with 'Falsehood and Fallacy'

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

The legal spat between the Recording Industry Association of America and its nemesis, New York attorney Ray Beckerman, escalated Friday when Beckerman defended himself against accusations he was a "vexatious" litigator.

"Plaintiff's papers so reek with falsehood and fallacy it would take more time and paper that we can commit to this project to respond in full," Beckerman wrote(.pdf) in New York federal court papers Friday.

Beckerman, who publishes the Recording Industry vs The People blog, said the RIAA's motionfor monetary sanctions against himself and a New York woman he is defending in a file sharing case is "sprinkled with ad hominemattacks against myself and my copyright blog."

The back-and-forth started in September, when the RIAA declared Beckerman a "vexatious" litigator when defending a New York woman named Marie Lindor, who was accused of making copyrighted music available on the Kazaa file sharing program. (We remind you that the RIAA has filed some 30,000 casescopyright infringement cases, some of which included dead people, children and the elderly.)

The RIAA, in court papers in September, said Beckerman "has maintained an anti-recording industry blog during the course of this case and has consistently posted virtually every one of his baseless motions on his blog seeking to bolster his public relations campaign and embarrass plaintiffs," the RIAA wrote in court briefs. "Such vexatious conduct demeans the integrity of these judicial proceedings and warrants this imposition of sanctions."

After five depositions and three years of legal jockeying, the RIAA dropped the case against the woman in September. The RIAA said the dismissal was based on what it said was evidence tampering.

The music industry's lobbying arm then sought sanctions against Beckerman and the defendant ? whom Beckerman said has never used a computer.

Expect a ruling on the RIAA's motion for sanctions soon.

Full post as published by Threat Level on November 07, 2008 (boomark / email).