Copyright Law

RIAA claim not to have filed new cases "for months" is false

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

According to a report on Wired.com, the RIAA spokesman claims that the RIAA has not filed any new lawsuits "for months"; according to the Wall Street Journal report the RIAA stopped filing mass lawsuits "early this fall"; and the Associated Press was apparently told that the RIAA had stopped bringing new lawsuits in August.

Being very familiar with the RIAA's penchant for "misspeaking", even when under oath, I investigated the matter a bit, and learned that a large number of suits have been brought by the RIAA quite recently, one as recently as this Monday. Here are just a few. Those marked green were contributed by some of our great readers:

Atlantic Recording v. Williams 08-1710 W.D. Pennsylvania 12/15/08
Sony BMG Music v. Linus 08-14413 S.D. Florida 12/11/08
Arista Records v. Estrada 08-8135 C.D. California 12/10/08
UMG Recordings v. Haralambos 08-8129 C.D. California 12/10/08
SONY BMG Music v. Estrada 08-2682 D. Colorado 12/10/08
Interscope Records v. Doe 6 08-1882 D. Connecticut 12/10/08
Arista Records v. Doe 4 08-1877 D. Connecticut 12/10/08
Interscope Records v. Doe 5 08-1284 D. Connecticut 12/10/08
Interscope Records v. Doe 2 08-1878 D. Connecticut 12/10/08
Interscope Records v. Doe 3 08-1879 D. Connecticut 12/10/08
Capitol Records v. Fowler 08-2141 D. District of Columbia 12/10/08
UMG Recordings v. Mekawi 08-2142 D. District of Columbia 12/10/08
UMG Recordings v. Hensley 08-534 M.D. Florida 12/10/08
Interscope Records v. Jackson 08-544 N.D. Florida 12/10/08
UMG Recordings v. Blueford 08-119 M.D. Georgia 12/10/08
Warner Bros. Records v. Umbaugh 08-118 M.D. Georgia 12/10/08
SONY BMG Music v. Simms 08-3728 N.D. Georgia 12/10/08
Warner Bros. Records v. Wade 08-3727 N.D. Georgia 12/10/08
Capitol Records v. Williams-Ali 08-156 S.D. Iowa 12/10/08
UMG Recordings v. Decort 08-7053 N.D. Illinois 12/10/08
SONY BMG Music v. Shane 08-7055 N.D. Illinois 12/10/08
SONY BMG Music v. Byers 08-189 S.D. Indiana 12/10/08
Capitol Records v. Trusty 08-190 S.D. Indiana 12/10/08
Elektra Entertainment v. Maphet 08-1386 D. Kansas 12/10/08
Atlantic Recording v. Sanderson 08-1385 D. Kansas 12/10/08
UMG Recordings v. Gulledge 08-cv-00973-MHT-TFM M.D. Alabama 12/10/08
Warner Bros. Records Kelley 08-cv-02295-CLS N.D. Alabama 12/10/08
SONY BMG Music v. Van Ornum 08-cv-04205-JLH E.D. Arkansas 12/10/08
Interscope Records v. Tabor 08-cv-03068-JLH W.D. Arkansas 12/10/08
BMG Music v. O'Brien 08-cv-02244-HRH D. Arizona 12/10/08
Priority Records v. Easterling 08-cv-08131-PA-JTL C.D. California 12/10/08
UMG Recordings v. Ibarzabal 08-cv-08136-R-SH C.D. California 12/10/08
Interscope Records v. Doe 4 08-cv-01880-JBA D. Connecticut 12/10/08
Arista Records v. Doe 2 08-cv-01874-CFD D. Connecticut 12/10/08
Arista Records v. Doe 3 08-cv-01876-SRU D. Connecticut 12/10/08
UMG Recordings v. Burmeister 08-cv-02295-MPM-DGB C.D. Illinois 12/10/08

Here are the most recent cases I found involving multiple John Does, which were filed the week before:

Warner Bros. Records v. Does 1-4 08-cv-01425-HA D. Oregon 12/5/08
UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Does 08-cv-00717-TCK-PJC N.D. Oklahoma 12/5/08
UMG Recordings v. Does 1-3 08-cv-00139-DLB E.D. Kentucky 12/4/08

The cases were filed 12/10/08 and are all from Central Michigan University. They are as follows:
Sony BMG v. Lugo 2:2008cv15102 Bay City Michigan (Central Michigan University-Mt.Pleasant Mich)
UMG v. Rivera 1:2008cv15101 Bay City Michigan (Central Michigan University-Mt.Pleasant Mich)
Sony BMG v. Mack 1:2008cv15104 Bay City Michigan (Central Michigan University-Mt.Pleasant Mich)
Capital v. Pogue 1:2008cv15104 Bay City Michigan (Central Michigan University-Mt.Pleasant Mich)
Filed on 12/5/2008, from Oakland County Michigan through the Federal Courthouse in Detroit Mi.
Psychopathic Records v. Anderson 2:2008cv15034

Commentary & discussion:

Wall Street Journal Online -- Comments Section
p2pnet.net
Slashdot
Trading Card Central
Investor Village
Fred Benenson's Blog
popmatters
ynet (Hebrew)
WinExtra
Digital Music News
pcinpact.com (French)
yahoo! france actualites (French)
TechDirt
Daily Tech
The Daily Swarm
20minutes.fr (French)
Wired.com
Intellectual Property Watch
Hard OCP
p2pnet.net (12/23/08)
tgdaily
yahoo! tech
The Moderate Voice
MySanAntonio.com
doom9

Keywords: lawyer 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 portable music player

Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on December 19, 2008 (boomark / email).