Obama Administration Backs The RIAA in Copyright Lawsuit
By Morelli
The Obama administration has sided with the Recorded Industry Association of America (RIAA) in a lawsuit against an alleged file-sharer for copyright infringement, in the same way the Bush administration intervened in a similar lawsuit last year.
The RIAA’s argument is that a file-sharer limits the copyright owner’s ability to “distribute legal copies of copyrighted works,” which results in “lost jobs and wages, lost tax revenue, and higher prices for honest purchasers of copyrighted works.” Defendant Joel Tenenbaum’s lawyer states that the criminalization of file-sharing is unconstitutional.
The U.S. Justice Department responds to the defense in a brief by stating that “if the court finds it necessary to reach the constitutional questions at this time, then it should reject each of defendant’s constitutional claims.”
The development comes as no surprise, since Obama filled the Justice Department with RIAA lawyers in February. The Massachusetts case is essential for the future of peer-to-peer file-sharing users, as much as the pending Pirate Bay trial in Sweden for file-sharing sites. The current law entitles a copyright holder with up to $150,000 in damages per violation. Is fire-sharing a criminal act? What will be the outcome of Tenenbaum’s trial?
Source: CNET
