Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319276,00.html
Quote: You, too, could be sued for thousands of dollars by the major record companies — even if you've never once illegally downloaded music.
That's because at least one lawyer for the Recording Industry Association of America, the Big Four record companies' lobbying arm and primary legal weapon, considers the copying of songs from your own CDs to your own computer, for your own personal use, to be just as illegal as posting them online for all to share, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Arizona.
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I hope any of the judges that hears lawsuits of this nature... smack the RIAA and their lawyers with "stupidity charges". Common sense seems to be in short supply by the RIAA and their supporting lawyers.
Re: Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit
And now we turn out attention to common sense...oh wait, he left the building.
They need a ding-dong smack on the head and badly. Since when is copying music from a CD to a computer illegal? Honestly, that's just to show how sue-happy some people are.
Re: Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit
Ripping songs is protected under 'fair use' policy, no matter how blue in the face the RIAA might go saying otherwise.
I hope they drop the entire lawsuit just because of that part of the legal brief. Just to shut them up.
Re: Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit
So, wait...I'm supposed to lug around a CD player as well because I can't transfer my discs to my iPod? Wow, makes you wonder if they even think about these cases.
Re: Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit
If you download music that is clearly under copyright law for free, and you do not legally own that song, it is illegal. *sound of a gavel* My two cents.
Re: Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit
I sure hope that bullshit argument gets shot down in court. After all, people have been legally owning and using VCRs for decades, and the TV networks haven't yet been able to sue anyone for these "unauthorized copies."
Re: Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit
You mean to tell me it is illegal to copy music from my CDs to my Ipod? That's rediculous! I hope this all gets resolved fairly quickly.
Re: Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit
This won't chane a thing. Pirating music is illegal and you barely hear of anybody getting sued because of it. People will continue to pirate music consequence free.
Re: Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit
Exactly what use does the RIAA think the MP3 format and players for it should be allowed to have? Exclusively pay-to-download rubbish, accompanied by their media control virus-esque crap that should itself be considered illegal?
Stopping piracy is laughable at best (even if you could, somehow, remove the internet from the equation, which would be nearly impossible without a massive wide-scale change made to the way the network functions, and even then I suspect small private networks would spring up like crazy; piracy existed loooooooong before the internet, ask Hong Kong and people with old mix tapes and Nintendo regarding the Famicom Disk System), and to speak out of blind assumption, I suspect the RIAA is doing more damage than anything else at this point.
Re: Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pineconn
If you download music that is clearly under copyright law for free, and you do not legally own that song, it is illegal. *sound of a gavel* My two cents.
That's not the issue in this case. The RIAA is arguing that to take a CD, that you own, and rip an MP3 from it for your own private use (such as to listen to on the computer or on an iPod) is illegal. Which defies both common sense and fair use, so hopefully their argument will get shot down quickly.