Okay, the RIAA is probably going too far this time.
A California flea-market owner is liable for copyright infringement because he failed to stop vendors from selling pirated music, a federal judge ruled.
The Recording Industry Assn. of America sued Richard Sinnott, operator of the Marysville Flea Market near Sacramento, after notifying him at least four times that vendors at his market were selling thousands of illegal CDs.
The ruling, which the judge wrote is probably the first to hold a flea market owner liable for copyright infringement, may bolster the music industry's nationwide campaign against illegal music sales at flea markets.
What I don't get is how Verizon is off the hook but the flea market can be held liable. My understanding of the Verizon case is that Verizon was not liable on the principle of a telephone system vs. a magazine editor (I'm not a lawyer, and I can't find the actual citation right now) — a phone system has no person monitoring the communications, so they cannot be held liable for the actions of anyone using the system, but a magazine has an actual person who approves or disapproves each individual article, there by giving an imprimatur of sorts to the content.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
The analogy would appear to be that the flea market is "hosting" the actual content, a la Napster. ISPs have been granted copyright infringement immunity, I believe.
2 - Craig Lyndall
You say you think they have gone too far, but this is the kind of action that I support by the RIAA anti-piracy campaign. If file-trading is like jaywalking or some sort of grey area, ok. Making actual physical copies of something and selling it in a flea market is something completely different. Making money reproducing something that is available for sale in the stores is something that I believe the RIAA has ever right to go after and prosecute.
3 - Eric Olsen
I agree that this makes a lot more sense than suing file sharers, on every level.
4 - Casper
I have no problem with the RIAA going after people who make physical copies of music and selling them: that's out and out piracy. However, going after the venue does not make sense to me. The flea market is no more responsible for Patchy selling bootleg copies of Ratt (or other wares being sold by other individuals) who set up in their space than a shopping mall is responsible for clothes sold by the Gap (or other goods by other stores) within their mall.
5 - Eric Olsen
Other than that they lease space to them, and thereby "control" (legally, anyway) what goes on inside.
6 - Craig Lyndall
Sorry Casper, but legally if they charge for the space, they can't just say they aren't responsible for what is sold inside there. Imagine if someone decided (in an extreme case) to sell drugs from their booth. Should the flea market owner be able to say, "well, I don't ask what they are selling. It isn't my responsibility."
7 - Casper
Then I am wrong on my legal understanding (not the first time that's happened :/ ). It seems vaguely unjust to me, though. Is it reasonable to require a landlord to review everything being sold by every vendor on the premises for legal acceptability? That would seem to place an undue burden on the landlord (her job is to rent physical space, not to be completely versed on all aspects of criminal property law).
8 - Eric Olsen
Look at it another way: are media outlets responsible for the content of the ads they run? Yes they are, even they don't necessarily write, produce, etc them. But they are the portal, as is the owner of a flea market.
9 - Casper
My understanding of the law is that media outlets are responsible for the content of the ad on the grounds that they have editors who approves or disapproves the ads for print. If not editors, then the resposibility falls upon the person who accepts the ad for printing to review the content.
10 - particleman
As much as the RIAA bugs me, i think this is a valid move. Sure beats suing 12-year-olds. regardless, i think they need to bring their business model up to the 21st century, but that's another discussion entirely...