James Delahunty
24 Nov 2004 16:41
A California Judge has slowed the MPAA's lawsuit campaign against P2P users. Apparently the movie studios have improperly bundled too many separate cases together. The MPAA launched an attack against file-sharers it accuses of infringing its Copyright by distributing Motion Pictures online through P2P networks. As in the case of the Recording Industry, the MPAA filed lawsuits against "John Doe's" where real names will come later. Judge William Alsup said the MPAA had not shown good reason to bundle together 12 separate cases.
Out of the 12, he allowed the first filed suit to go ahead which is against a customer of Pacific Bell, but put the other 11 on hold. The Electronic Frontier Foundation praised the ruling. "This decision helps to give due-process rights to the Internet users accused of infringement," said EFF Staff Attorney Wendy Seltzer. "Lumping them together makes it more difficult for everyone to defend against these claims.". The RIAA also has experienced similar set backs in its campaign against P2P users.
Source:
News.com