James Delahunty
5 Jul 2007 2:41
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is suffering more accusations of illegal practices in its hunt for music file sharers in the United States. Ms. Crain, the defendant in an 8-month-old P2P lawsuit, had claimed she never heard of file sharing until the RIAA demanded a $4,500 settlement. Armed with a lawyer, Crain filed a counterclaim against the RIAA in the Sony vs. Crain case, filed in Texas.
Ms. Crain's attorney has now filed a motion to amend the counterclaim to add new allegations against the recording industry trade group and its partners. The documents claim that Crain "has become aware upon information and belief that the RIAA have illegally employed unlicensed investigators in the State of Texas and used the information thereby obtained to file this and other similar actions across the country."
Texas state law says that investigations companies must be licensed in order to collect evidence that can be used in court; a requirement that Crain says MediaSentry, the RIAA's investigations partner, was fully aware of in Texas and several other states but chose to ignore it. "The RIAA and MediaSentry agreed between themselves and understood that unlicensed and unlawful investigations would take place in order to provide evidence for this lawsuit, as well as thousands of others as part of a mass litigation campaign," the motion reads.
Crain's attorney claims that the actions constitute "civil conspiracy" under Texas law.
Source:
Ars Technica