Rich Fiscus
14 Jun 2008 3:11
Ray Beckerman, the attorney behind the RIAA watchdog site Recording Industry vs The People appeared to be on the verge of getting a file sharing lawsuit dismissed in federal court when the RIAA suddenly dopped the case. Initially there was a lot of speculation they feared the judge's expected decision that simply making music available by sharing via P2P doesn't infringe copyright and neither does an authorized recording industry agent downloading it. Now it looks like there was more to it than that as the suit has been re-filed with the apparent aim of getting a more favorable judge.
You see the issue isn't whether the RIAA can re-file in federal court. Since the original lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice they're within their rights to do so. What's controversial is their failure to let the courts know this was a case that had already been assigned a judge in a previous incarnation. This "oversight" allowed them to get a new judge.
In response Beckerman has told one interviewer "These people are psychos."
Regardless of their state of mental health this doesn't appear to be one of the RIAA's smarter moves. It shouldn't come as any surprise to them that Beckerman would let both judges know what's happening, which of course he has. Even assuming they got a judge who would be likely to agree with them this time, they may face an uphill battle explaining why the case should even be heard by a second judge.
Maybe somebody should explain to their lawyers that federal judges tend to be harder to intimidate than single mothers, children, or dead people. And their track record isn't so hot against any of them either.