Copyright Law

IP Watch Can't Get Confirmation from NYS Attorney General or from ISP's that RIAA's claims are true

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

An interesting article in "Intellectual Property Watch" by author and journalist Bruce Gain shows that Mr. Gain has tried to obtain confirmation of the factual details in the RIAA's announcement, but has not been able to obtain confirmation of any of it:

RIAA To Scale Down US Copyright Litigation; Details Of New Plan Coming Clear

By Bruce Gain for Intellectual Property Watch

Representatives from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have confirmed that the organisation has opted to suspend its strategy of suing individuals accused of illegal file-sharing in the United States and to instead work more closely with internet service providers to thwart copyright infringement, but some doubts remain. Details of the RIAA?s revamped campaign remain murky.

After five years and over 30,000 lawsuits targeting individuals in the United States, an RIAA spokesman told Intellectual Property Watch that leading US-based internet service providers (ISPs) have agreed to increasingly take action when put on notice by copyright owners that customers are engaged in illicit file sharing. The ISPs might, for example, send warnings to subscribers then later suspend services if the communications are ignored.

The RIAA spokesman also said the organisation is working with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to form a broad framework for a solution that would involve graduated response tactics against alleged infringers and that would also reduce network congestion due to massive file distribution.

However, RIAA has not yet disclosed the names of the ISPs with which it said it has formed an agreement, which remains confidential. Nor has it specified the terms of the alliance with Cuomo (whose office could not be reached for comment). The RIAA also has not released a statement about its plans to end its lawsuit campaign.

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Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on December 23, 2008 (boomark / email).