Copyright War Summit Report: Recording Industry vs. The People

Recording Industry vs. The People, presented by attorney and author of the blog Recording Industry vs. The People, Ray Beckerman
Beckerman discusses how the RIAA has proceeded in their law suits thus far, highlighting the biggest problems with the RIAA's tactics.  Some of these problems include: unlicensed investigators, insufficient evidence, and violations of various rules governing Federal Court procedures (Federal Rules of Civil Procedure). 

Most interesting is the missing proof of registration.  Under US copyright law, registration is not required for copyright protection, but it is required in order to recover statutory damages in an infringement case.  Most RIAA cases settled, and for the few that went to court, none investigated the required registrations.  But it looks like that’s about to change in the new Thomas retrial.

Another surprising element to the RIAA cases (or not-so-surprising, depending on how you’re looking at it) is that the RIAA has not gone after anyone who has used bitTorrent types of services.  Hmm… seems to me that’s like only chasing after pirates who don’t have boats.

If you’re interested in the RIAA’s lawsuits, have ever downloaded  music or even ever thought of sharing music online, Beckerman’s presentation is well worth a watch.