RIAA, MPAA, NMPA Move Against File Sharing Services

Press release from the Three:

Three leading organizations representing the music publishers, and record and motion picture companies, today filed a motion in a Los Angeles federal court asking for an expedited ruling in their ongoing copyright infringement case against the online file sharing services
KaZaA Grokster and MusicCity.

After having gathered evidence for the last several months, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), moved for summary judgment in United States District Court for the Central District of California. The three organizations charge that the massive "vicarious and contributory copyright infringement" facilitated by the KaZaA Grokster and MusicCity services is abundantly clear and an accelerated ruling on the merits of the case is warranted. The initial lawsuit was filed last October.

In deference to the confidential evidence designated by defendants, the plaintiffs' summary judgment brief has been filed confidentially, under seal. The three organizations will seek to work out an appropriate process to unseal the briefs.

In short, the motion claims that KaZaA Grokster and MusicCity:

· built their networks to emulate Napster in almost every respect. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Having begun with Napster technology and a Napster business model, they have marketed their service to Napster users and argued the same legal defenses as Napster;

· have built their networks into candy stores of infringement that allow a user to find the most popular music and movies of our time without paying any of the rights holders;

· are earning millions of dollars from the service;

· are acutely aware that the services are being used to facilitate copyright infringement on a massive scale for movies and music;

· built and controlled the networks in a way that they could easily prevent the copyright infringements from occurring. The defendants' principal defense that they have no ability to control the network is belied by a myriad of facts, including the fact that Kazaa demonstrated its ability to turn off the Morpheus system at whim;

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Article Author: Eric Olsen

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