Judge Slaps Down Recording Industry In Copyright Suit

In a high profile case regarding copyright law in the music industry, a judge this week found that the act of placing materials into a shared folder does not constitute a crime. The ruling is a blow to the Recording Industry Association of America, and could have implications for other lawsuits it has filed against citizens it believes are illegally distributing RIAA materials.

In the case, Atlantic v. Howell, the RIAA is claiming that any sound recording that is ripped onto a computer and stored in a shared folder is an un authorized use. The RIAA does not consider the act of ripping (or copying) the recording onto a computer an infraction. Placing those recordings into a shared folder, however, makes them accessible to others online who may be using a peer-to-peer (p2p) program. In this case, the defendants were said to be found by the recording companies' private investigator, MediaSentry, to be using the KaZaA file-sharing sharing service.

The judge denied the RIAA's motion for a summary judgment. In a 17-page decision, he rejected the idea that putting the materials on a shared folder violated copyright law, noting, "unless a copy of the work changes hands in one of the designated ways, a "distribution" has not taken place."

In addition, the judge also found that the RIAA failed to prove that the defendant was the same person who actually put the files in a shared files folder.