Recording Industry Wins Copyright Case -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 10, Bulletin 2 -- January 30, 2003

The recording industry triumphed in a federal case last week which will give it more clout in fighting the illegal sharing of music files over the Internet. On January 21, U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates ordered the Internet service provider division of Verizon Communications Inc. to turn over to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) the name of a Verizon customer who downloaded up to 600 music files daily from the Kazaa music-file-sharing service. The ruling, if upheld on appeal, will allow RIAA and other industries harmed by piracy to target individuals who illegally download songs, movies, and other files. Up until this ruling, the entertainment industry was restricted to going after the sharing services, because Internet service providers were not required to turn over the names of individual customers suspected of piracy.

RIAA brought the case under the provisions of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright act (DMCA). Judge Bates found that the DMCA provides copyright owners with both the right and a process for demanding the identities of infringers. "Verizon has provided no sound reason why Congress would enable a copyright owner to obtain identifying information from a service provider storing the infringing material on its system, but would not enable a copyright owner to obtain identifying information from a service provider transmitting the material over its system," Bates ruled.

RIAA and other entertainment firms have been fiercely fighting the illegal downloading of files over the Internet, which has escalated drastically over the last few years. The recording industry estimates that the practice cost them $5 billion last year alone. The motion production industry cites comparable figures for the cost of piracy to its sector. Internet service providers, in opposing the ruling, however, argue that if they are subjected to scores of subpoenas for infringers' identities it will violate their privacy and have a "chilling effect" on continued growth of the Internet and of consumers' options.

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