Legal Compliance

The anarchy created by P2P networks is ever evolving. The damages caused by this trend are devastating and measure in billions of dollars to the copyrighted digital industry and Internet service providers (ISP's).

One credible analysis by the Institute for Policy Innovation concludes that global music piracy through the internet and computer network causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year, plus 71,060 U.S. jobs are lost, for a further loss of $2.7 billion in workers' earnings, as well as a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes. For copies of the report, please visit www.ipi.org

Court Ruling Awards Huge Financial Damages to
Copyright Owners:

Jammie Thomas-Rasset was found guilty of willful copyright infringement through peer to peer networks on Thursday 06/18/2009 in a Minneapolis federal court and must pay the recording industry $1.92 million.
Court Orders Jammie Thomas to pay RIAA $1.92 million

Patricia Santangelo 46, of Wappingers Falls, accused in a well-publicized case that began with five record companies accusing, of illegally downloading and distributing music. The court ordered a $190,000 award to the copyright owners. The RIAA filed a new one against two of her children, Michelle and Robert, ages 20 and 16 at the time. The new lawsuit alleged the youths had downloaded and distributed more than 1,000 songs, including "MMMBop" by Hanson and "Beat It" by Michael Jackson.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has sided with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in its lawsuit against a Massachusetts man accused of illegally downloading seven songs. The judgment is for $150,000 per track. The new Obama administration is shaping up to be a disaster for copyright violators everywhere. In particular the new Department of Justice is stacked with lawyers who've been on the side of copyright and intellectual property lawsuits for the last eight years.

Currently there are 30,000 pending legal proceedings against copyright violators by the RIAA.

It is a Crime:

The 1976 Copyright Act: US copyright law defines copyright infringement and asserts criminal prosecution with monetary and confinement penalties.

With the passage of the No Electronic Theft Act (NET Act), US copyright law was changed to allow for the civil and criminal prosecution of persons allegedly engaged in copying of copyrighted works without permission that did not result in personal financial gain; historically, the criminal copyright law required infringement to be for financial gain. Among other things, the NET Act altered the definition of financial gain to include bartering and trading. In addition, under this US law, members of software piracy groups could also be prosecuted for participation in a criminal enterprise.

In December 2006, The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) argued that making files available for download constitutes copyright infringement and received an important boost from federal Judge Ann Aiken. She found that making songs available for download via a P2P application such as Kaza is equivalent to distributing the files and therefore, forms a sufficient basis for a claim of copyright infringement. This is the first time that a judge has made such a ruling in a file-sharing case. Judge Aiken ruled in favor of the RIAA. In her order, the judge noted that in a copyright infringement case, the plaintiff needs to do two things: demonstrate ownership of the material and show that the party accused of infringement "violated at least one exclusive right granted to copyright holders under 17 U.S.C. § 106." Making songs available for download fulfills the second requirement, wrote Judge Aiken. This appears to be the first instance in which a judge presiding over a file-sharing case has ruled that having a shared folder available on Kaza constitutes copyright infringement Federal Judge Gives RIAA A Boost.

November 2007, a judge has ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the Atlantic v. Howell file sharing lawsuit, agreeing with RIAA lawyers that the "making available" of copyrighted works using peer-to-peer software constitutes copyright infringement. Copyright owners have the exclusive rights to distribute their works; the legal distinction here is whether sharing a song in a P2P folder is the same thing as distributing it. Judge Agrees With RIAA

November 2008, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 was signed into law on Aug. 12. Under this Law, Universities will now be held responsible to inform students about peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property, and make students aware of alternatives to illegal downloading. The new law is considered too general to determine if the effects of the peer-to-peer illegal downloading will cause universities to make dramatic or simple changes to policy or programs on each individual campus. Overall, the law requires three things for schools to continue to receive government funding: schools must find and prevent illegal distribution of copyrighted material within campus networks, encourage alternatives to peer-to-peer illegal distribution (such as iTunes), and inform students that peer-to-peer file sharing opens them up to all sorts of trouble- like civil or criminal charges. Most schools do have policies in place to prevent these problems, but the section of the Higher Education Opportunity Act that addresses illegal downloading and distribution of copyrighted material was decided upon in hopes that it will unify the safeguards against P2P use.
Act may reduce P2P use

October 2008, the Pro-IP Law (H. R. 4279) provides stiffer penalties for pirating intellectual property. The Pro-IP Law provides for civil and criminal prosecution, statutory damages, forfeiture of network equipment and victim's restitution President Signs Tough New AntiPiracy Law.