MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-09-29 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] RIAA - SUE ME SUE ME!
|
Court forces RIAA to dismiss case against mother & child
Posted by Seán Byrne on 23 September 2005 - 18:30 - Source: Digital
Music News
In a court case where the RIAA tried suing the mother of a 13 year old
when her daughter shared music over a file-sharing network, the court
forced the RIAA to dismiss the case. In order for the RIAA to sue the
child, a Guardian Ad Litem (guardian appointed by a court to represent a
minor) must be appointed to protect the interests of the child. While
the mother had no experience or knowledge with computers, the RIAA
claimed that she was indirectly liable for allowing her daughter to use
her computer to illegally share music online.
While the case was dismissed, the mother had to pay legal fees as the
Judge refused to award her attorneys fees. The reason is that the
plaintiffs' lawyers had taken the appropriate steps in trying to
prosecute the mother and that the mother used tactics to obstruct the
Plaintiff to efficiently prosecute her. If you copy, please show your
appreciation by linking back to cdfreaks.
The case was dismissed with prejudice, which prevents the case from
being advanced against the defendant. Finally, the RIAA tried asking
the Judge to amend the judgement in order to allow them to sue the child
through a Guardian Ad Litem. However the court denied this RIAA's
request. Thanks to both adderal and RTV71 for using our news submit to
let us know about the following news:
In an actively contested case in federal court in Michigan, Priority
Records LLC et al v. Candy Chan, the RIAA was forced to withdraw its
case against a mother. Priority Records v. Candy Chan, U.S. District
Court Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division - Case No.
04-cv-73645-DT Honorable: Lawrence Zatkoff.
The RIAA sued the defendant Candy Chan, who had no experience or
knowledge of computers. It was possible that her 13 year old daughter
may have had a file sharing account.
The RIAA continued to argue that Ms. Chan was indirectly liable for
providing a computer to her teenage daughter. After taking Ms. Chan's
deposition, the RIAA moved to add the 13 year old child as a defendant.
Ms. Chan's attorney, John Hermann of Berkley, Michigan, objected,
arguing that the daughter was a minor and that the Court would have to
appoint a guardian ad litem to protect the interests of the child,
before for the child before they could proceed.
The full article including documents can be read here.
Well, at least it is nice to see the RIAA finally lose a case for trying
to sue an adult or child when a minor ends up sharing music online.
However, this does not stop them from issuing further lawsuits against
children with guardians to present the minors. In my opinion, the RIAA
should not be allowed to target young minors with lawsuits, especially
since most cannot afford to purchase music as it is, let alone have a
credit / debit card to use legal services.
A more reasonable approach would be first send a warning to their
parents about what is going on, since in many cases the parents don’t
understand what’s going on. For example, if one forgets to pay a bill
for a product, the company would not suddenly go filing a lawsuit
against the customer, but instead issue a warning to let the customer
know what they have done wrong.
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