MPAA Says No Proof Needed in P2P Copyright Infringement Lawsuits

[Newsjock]

Source: Wired

The Motion Picture Association of America said Friday intellectual-property holders should have the right to collect damages, perhaps as much as $150,000 per copyright violation, without having to prove infringement.

"Mandating such proof could thus have the pernicious effect of depriving copyright owners of a practical remedy against massive copyright infringement in many instances," MPAA attorney Marie L. van Uitert wrote Friday to the federal judge overseeing the Jammie Thomas trial.

"It is often very difficult, and in some cases, impossible, to provide such direct proof when confronting modern forms of copyright infringement, whether over P2P networks or otherwise; understandably, copyright infringers typically do not keep records of infringement," van Uitert wrote on behalf of the movie studios, a position shared with the Recording Industry Association of America, which sued Thomas, the single mother of two.

... The deadline to submit briefs to the judge was Friday. Among the briefs, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge, the United States Internet Industry Association and the Computer and Communications Industry Association all jointly filed a brief, saying the law did not allow damages for "attempted" copyright infringement.

Read more: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/mpaa-says-no-pr.html

[RoyGBiv]

1. Oh, damn. I like that ...

I'm certain my neighbor's cat is preventing me from making millions of dollars. I shouldn't need to prove that. I just know it.

Sign me up.

[Wizard777]

5. Never mind your neighbors cat. Did you read the story about the MPAA's dog?

The Motion Picture Association of America is ordering flags flown at half staff at government buildings, animal shelters, Hollywood studios and at the world's movie theaters after the death of one of its disc-sniffing dogs.

The MPAA is ordering flags at government buildings be flown at half staff? WTF? These guys have just gotten WAAAAAY to big for their britches. I think I'll call the Pentagon and order the army to attack them. This obviously a coup against government authority. What the hell. Why not? If they can order flags flow at half staff. I can order military strikes.

[RoyGBiv]

6. My cat killed their dog ...

I admit it.

Poor Franky. He'll certainly fry for this.

[Wizard777]

7. Of course! The MPAA don't need no stinkin' proof.

I think they've been watching too many of their own movies.

[RoyGBiv]

8. I think they're on crack ...

... or just stupid. One should never discount the potential of stupid.

I love the arguments RIAA and the MPAA put forth about "artists" getting their fair share. I'd suggest it is hard to find a RIAA/MPAA lawyer or executive on food stamps. The artists themselves have the same issues they've had since before the spread of Internet connectivity.

[Kutjara]

10. Didn't some artists sue the RIAA...

...a couple of years ago, because the RIAA hasn't been paying out any of the damages they've won? Apparently, all the dough just goes into a big pot to fund "future RIAA activities." So the RIAA goes after "pirates," wins big money on behalf of the poor starving artists, and then keeps the money. I guess the RIAA believes it's better to be a thief than a pirate.

[RoyGBiv]

15. Yup ...

Nothing that RIAA is doing benefits artists. It benefits, mostly, the lawyers and partially the corporations.

That's it.

[juno jones]

19. Several years ago I happened upon a list of artists

who were owed money. The thing was that this list was being circulated by the companies to try to 'track down' potential recipients of such monies. Basically the list of artists, most of them international artists (I recognized a few like 3mustaphas3) were given about 48 hours to reply or all said monies would be swallowed up by RIAA to further promote their agenda. I hate to think of these small artists who were swindled out of their share of royaties just because notice was posted on an obscure website somewhere. It's like posting a legal notice in the penny saver or something, legal, but a tad evasive. They are screwing the very artists that they're claiming to protect.

[RoyGBiv]

20. It's just a game ...

The actual percentage, even if it is distributed, to any individual artist when these cases are resolved is so small it is negligible, unnoticeable even.

And the artists we're talking about here are groups like Metallica or individuals like Britney Spears. These people aren't hurting, even if their music sucks.

The independent artists benefit not at all from this nonsense, and in most ways they actually suffer. People like me who would be perfectly willing to *pay them whatever they deserve* are driven away from even attempting to do so because of how the corporate assholes who control the entertainment industry want to run things.

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. Shouldn't the artisits be allowed to successfully sue

MPAA/RIAA for royalties without having to prove they are owed them?

Fair seems fair.

[Kutjara]

27. Absolutely. I'm pretty sure...

...I released an album of some sort at some time in the past (or at least I dreamed that I did), so that should be enough for me to get my snout in the honey pot. Pay up, RIAA! It's my money, and I want it now!!!!! (apologies to J. D. Wentworth).

[Joanne98]

2. Whoa!

[MNBrewer]

3. I think it may be time to boycott movies

[RoyGBiv]

4. No kidding ...

Every time I have convinced myself it is wrong to pirate movies or whatever, some shit like this comes down the pike that makes me think my own ethics mean nothing when held up against the lack of ethics of these organizations. Why, truly, should I give a damn?

We're guilty until proven dead.

[Smear Talk Express]

16. I don't see how anyone can consider piracy immoral...

Piracy is our only recourse when the entertainment industry can spend millions bribing the government to rewrite copyright laws retroactively.

[RoyGBiv]

18. It's not just entertainment either ...

It's about the control of culture.

Ask some Czechs or Slavs about how far they'd go to preserve their culture. People die over this shit.

The "entertainment industry" is out to control culture, meaning the corporations are out to control it. You get to see/hear/read what "we" want you to see/hear/read. How dare you suggest otherwise.

I'm not an anarchist, but the cookbook still sits on my shelf, and I consult it from time to time. People worry about silly shit that happens in Congress all the time, but rarely do they consider this ... the control of culture, our information, our identities.

If piracy is the only recourse left to me, so be it.

[KamaAina]

9. KamaAina Says No Proof Needed to Impeach Bush

I say he's guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, specifically lying to Congress about WMD in Iraq. Therefore, he needs to be frog-marched down Pennsylvania Ave. toute suite.

Proof? We don't need no stinkin' proof!

:sarcasm:

[Smear Talk Express]

17. That;s what we expect from Puny Pelosi...

She's a female version of Harry Reid: Not good at anything but taking it from the right.

[Trekologer]

11. Who needs proof?

I believe that the boardmembers of the MPAA are distributing kiddie porn. Proof? Who needs proof?

[RoyGBiv]

21. Oooh ... nice

That should be the basis of counter-suit.

[TommyO]

23. This one has legs!

Welcome to DU.

[Danger Mouse]

12. What the fuck? I'm against pirating movies and all, but what. the. fuck???

[girl gone mad]

13. As long as proof isn't necessary..

remember that "Titanic" movie? They totally stole the whole idea from me.

Now hand over my millions!

[alarimer]

14. How come these assholes are above the law?

Fuck the MPAA.

[MattSh]

29. Because they WRITE the laws,

and the laws they write say that they are not only above the law, but they are the law!

[ejpoeta]

22. don't the fat cats get most of the money from

the music anyway? i mean, i wouldn't want to keep an artist from their royalties, but i don't have a lot of sympathy for the big wigs who want to control how i use my music that i bought.

[daleo]

24. No proof needed to throw "terrorists" in jail.

Pretty soon, no proof is needed for other things, like this. It's how rights are eroded. First they go after "the other", then they go after everyone else.

[high density]

26. Guilty until proven guilty?

I wish I had infinite sums of money to give to the EFF. I hate this crap.

[Prophet 451]

28. RULE OF LAW!

The more I head about the absurd lengths the mega-corporations are going to now, the more I think they're looking for cyberpunk-esque "company rule". One of the most fundemental principles of the rule of law, dating back to at least the Roman Republic (and probably earlier) is the presumption of innocence. Another is that the burden of proof ALWAYS rests on the accuser.

When the mega-corporations go to the courts to argue that the most fundemental principles of legal process shouldn't apply to them, it's time to start looking for somewhere to hide.