My favorite backpack for daily use is the LL Bean Turbo Transit. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/64778?feat=816-GN1&page=turbo-transit-backpack I bought it recently, researched backpacks extensively before I bought, and have been elated with it.
It's roomy enough for lots and lots of stuff. It has plenty of compartments so I can compartmentalize. It has a great, highly usable, shoe compartment at the bottom. It looks nice (a factor because I often might have to bring it to meetings, court dates, etc). At $70 it's not the cheapest backpack I've seen but it's within $20 of the cheapest remotely usable ones I've seen
If it were a sincere debate, then this might change it. But it's not. The so called debate is just a bunch of self-interested executives at 10 large corporations (4 music, 6 film) lying in order to try and keep their jobs, covering up their failures.
The actual damages in the RIAA mp3 scenarios are actually far less than a license fee, for several reasons: (1) the record companies don't sell mp3's directly but through resellers, so the wholesale rather than the retail price controls, and (2) there are heavy royalties payable on the sale of each mp3. The wholesale fee is 70 cents not 99 cents, and the royalties average in the neighborhood of 35 cents, so -- if each unauthorized download represented a lost sale -- the actual damage would be in the neighborhood of 70 cents minus 35 cents, or 35 cents.
But each unauthorized download does not represent a lost sale. Statisticians have claimed that, on average, for each of seven unauthorized downloads there would have been a single purchased download. So arguably the actual damages for download of a typical mp3 would be 5 cents, not 99 cents.
Congratulations on getting the story right, as there are reports circulating all over the place which incorrectly suggest that the appeals court rejected Judge Gertner's decision on the due process issue.
This was no more than an application of the 'judicial restraint' & 'avoidance of constitutional question' doctrine, that a constitutional issue should not be decided unless and until its resolution becomes unavoidable.
I agree wholeheartedly with your article. Twitter has been playing these games now, for over a year, as it struggles to "monetize", in the process killing the golden goose.
What I've been waiting for is an aggressive microblogging competitor to come along. I've been disappointed that statusnet or friendfeed hasn't stepped up more strongly.
For the past 6 years I've been writing about the tendency of so many judges to give the RIAA a pass, and to fail to adhere to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or to legal precedent, in scrutinizing the ex parte applications. 15 neglected pressure points -- areas which judges should have been, but usually were not, scrutinizing -- were pointed out by me in my 2008 article : "Large Recording Companies vs. The Defenseless : Some Common Sense Solutions to the Challenges of the RIAA Litigations", The Judges' Journal, Summer 2008 Edition (American Bar Association, Judicial Division) (Reprinted with Permission)
I'm glad to see Public Citizen being involved in this issue.
The sad thing about fair use is that the way it has evolved, it creates an enormous burden on creative people, and forces the suppression of worthwhile work. The mere fact that we are debating back and forth about whether it is or is not transformative, is the problem. A creative person should be able to know ahead of time whether or not he can do it.
Projects which require insurance, such as films, are virtually prohibited from relying on fair use, because the corporate insurers will simply not accept that as a basis for utilizing the material, regardless of how "fair" the use. Either pay the big bucks for the clearances, even for fleeting references, or forget about it.
It's really unworkable, and the need for a uniform set of standards has never been greater.
By the way, IMHO... it's a slam dunk fair use. And yet, it would not surprise me if the Court puts Fairey through the enormous burden of pretrial discovery + full blown trial.
The RIAA asked for a verdict of from $750 to $150,000. That's $3.6 million on the high end.
They could have asked for $750 to $3000, and then they would have been suing for $72,000, or for $750, in which case they would have been suing for $24,000.
"Almost overnight a practice that required many years of study (state, federal and international law), mentoring, etc. was supplanted by a group of "practitioners" whose only qualifications were a one semester elective in law school."
I think that may have had more to do with the internet boom than anything else.
If Anonymous Coward (2:04 PM) had actually taken the time to read the brief, he or she would know that the brief completely eviscerated, point by point, the very arguments made in this very case by the very lawyers who are in the DOJ at the moment.
There is no way for any objective reader to actually read the brief and dismissively pass it off as being based on a mere conclusion that "the administration feels there are other more pressing / important cases to put in front of the court".
Numerous points of substantive law were made, and each and every argument of the film companies was explicitly rejected on substantive grounds.
There is no legal term, "intellectual property". It is just a term lawyers developed when referring collectively to rights someone might have under patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret law.
I do accuse the RIAA's lawyers of "radicalism". A good lawyer does not take indefensible positions. It is "radicalism" in my book to pretend the law says something it does not, to make false representations to a court, to eschew making concessions or compromises, to do whatever one is instructed to do by one's clients, to bring ex parte proceedings when notice can be given, to conduct proceedings solely for the purposes of harassment and terror. Under that definition, I accuse the RIAA lawyers of radicalism.
As a practicing litigation lawyer, when I blog I blog only about actual legal issues that have been included in briefs, decisions, and other filed legal documents. I never blog about the "reform" issues, i.e. how copyright law could be improved. I just blog about what it is. In this area, I can tell you that the 'radicalism' is on the part of the RIAA and MPAA, which are trying to expand existing copyright law by fighting against defenseless people, and non-moneyed websites, and picking up garbage 'precedents' wherever they can. But you will notice that in seriously contested cases they have never prevailed on any of their ludicrous substantive copyright arguments.
Mike, unlike myself, blogs about both subjects: (a) existing copyright law, and (b) copyright reform. He also blogs about how the music industry is changing, and about how it could set up better business models.
One needs to differentiate which subject he is talking about.
From my experience, when -- as in this article -- he is talking about existing copyright law, he has really taken the trouble to educate himself and to state the law correctly.
Would the RIAA and MPAA lawyers were as careful as he to do so.
Rather a strange headline. Why did you say "Jammie Thomas refuses to settle", as opposed to "RIAA refuses to settle"? Or better yet a neutral headline?
"Many lawyers are taught (or learn from experience) to approach any legal issue by going to an extreme position...."
How I would put it:
Many [inferior] lawyers [of the type being cloned these days by large law schools and large law firms which are oriented only towards achieving large 'profits per partner'] are taught (or learn from experience) to approach any legal issue by going to an extreme position......"
Oops, wrong link
This is the link to my blog post
Copy of the actual summons and complaint
Copies of the actual summons and complaint filed on January 10th are posted on my blog here
My favorite is LL Bean Turbo Transit
My favorite backpack for daily use is the LL Bean Turbo Transit. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/64778?feat=816-GN1&page=turbo-transit-backpack I bought it recently, researched backpacks extensively before I bought, and have been elated with it.
It's roomy enough for lots and lots of stuff. It has plenty of compartments so I can compartmentalize. It has a great, highly usable, shoe compartment at the bottom. It looks nice (a factor because I often might have to bring it to meetings, court dates, etc). At $70 it's not the cheapest backpack I've seen but it's within $20 of the cheapest remotely usable ones I've seen
Great job
Great job, Mike.
Lot's of luck on "changing the debate", though :)
If it were a sincere debate, then this might change it. But it's not. The so called debate is just a bunch of self-interested executives at 10 large corporations (4 music, 6 film) lying in order to try and keep their jobs, covering up their failures.
Actual damages for download
The actual damages in the RIAA mp3 scenarios are actually far less than a license fee, for several reasons: (1) the record companies don't sell mp3's directly but through resellers, so the wholesale rather than the retail price controls, and (2) there are heavy royalties payable on the sale of each mp3. The wholesale fee is 70 cents not 99 cents, and the royalties average in the neighborhood of 35 cents, so -- if each unauthorized download represented a lost sale -- the actual damage would be in the neighborhood of 70 cents minus 35 cents, or 35 cents.
But each unauthorized download does not represent a lost sale. Statisticians have claimed that, on average, for each of seven unauthorized downloads there would have been a single purchased download. So arguably the actual damages for download of a typical mp3 would be 5 cents, not 99 cents.
kudos on getting the story straight
Congratulations on getting the story right, as there are reports circulating all over the place which incorrectly suggest that the appeals court rejected Judge Gertner's decision on the due process issue.
This was no more than an application of the 'judicial restraint' & 'avoidance of constitutional question' doctrine, that a constitutional issue should not be decided unless and until its resolution becomes unavoidable.
Twitter killing the golden goose
I agree wholeheartedly with your article. Twitter has been playing these games now, for over a year, as it struggles to "monetize", in the process killing the golden goose.
What I've been waiting for is an aggressive microblogging competitor to come along. I've been disappointed that statusnet or friendfeed hasn't stepped up more strongly.
It's about time we saw the judiciary scrutinizing this stuff carefully
For the past 6 years I've been writing about the tendency of so many judges to give the RIAA a pass, and to fail to adhere to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or to legal precedent, in scrutinizing the ex parte applications. 15 neglected pressure points -- areas which judges should have been, but usually were not, scrutinizing -- were pointed out by me in my 2008 article : "Large Recording Companies vs. The Defenseless : Some Common Sense Solutions to the Challenges of the RIAA Litigations", The Judges' Journal, Summer 2008 Edition (American Bar Association, Judicial Division) (Reprinted with Permission) I'm glad to see Public Citizen being involved in this issue.
i guess i wasn't logged in
just wanted to confirm previous comment was mine
is this an April Fool's joke?
It's August. This can't be real.
Can it?
Great article
Great article. Hope ASCAP gets its comeuppance one of these days, and I would love to be the one to give it to them.
Problem is fact we're discussing it
The sad thing about fair use is that the way it has evolved, it creates an enormous burden on creative people, and forces the suppression of worthwhile work. The mere fact that we are debating back and forth about whether it is or is not transformative, is the problem. A creative person should be able to know ahead of time whether or not he can do it.
Projects which require insurance, such as films, are virtually prohibited from relying on fair use, because the corporate insurers will simply not accept that as a basis for utilizing the material, regardless of how "fair" the use. Either pay the big bucks for the clearances, even for fleeting references, or forget about it.
It's really unworkable, and the need for a uniform set of standards has never been greater.
By the way, IMHO... it's a slam dunk fair use. And yet, it would not surprise me if the Court puts Fairey through the enormous burden of pretrial discovery + full blown trial.
They sued her for $3.6 million
The RIAA asked for a verdict of from $750 to $150,000. That's $3.6 million on the high end.
They could have asked for $750 to $3000, and then they would have been suing for $72,000, or for $750, in which case they would have been suing for $24,000.
But greed got the better of them.
Moby is correct.
Dilution
"Almost overnight a practice that required many years of study (state, federal and international law), mentoring, etc. was supplanted by a group of "practitioners" whose only qualifications were a one semester elective in law school."
I think that may have had more to do with the internet boom than anything else.
RTFA
If Anonymous Coward (2:04 PM) had actually taken the time to read the brief, he or she would know that the brief completely eviscerated, point by point, the very arguments made in this very case by the very lawyers who are in the DOJ at the moment.
There is no way for any objective reader to actually read the brief and dismissively pass it off as being based on a mere conclusion that "the administration feels there are other more pressing / important cases to put in front of the court".
Numerous points of substantive law were made, and each and every argument of the film companies was explicitly rejected on substantive grounds.
Radicalism ... Intellectual property
There is no legal term, "intellectual property". It is just a term lawyers developed when referring collectively to rights someone might have under patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret law.
I do accuse the RIAA's lawyers of "radicalism". A good lawyer does not take indefensible positions. It is "radicalism" in my book to pretend the law says something it does not, to make false representations to a court, to eschew making concessions or compromises, to do whatever one is instructed to do by one's clients, to bring ex parte proceedings when notice can be given, to conduct proceedings solely for the purposes of harassment and terror. Under that definition, I accuse the RIAA lawyers of radicalism.
Cutting Mike some slack
As a practicing litigation lawyer, when I blog I blog only about actual legal issues that have been included in briefs, decisions, and other filed legal documents. I never blog about the "reform" issues, i.e. how copyright law could be improved. I just blog about what it is. In this area, I can tell you that the 'radicalism' is on the part of the RIAA and MPAA, which are trying to expand existing copyright law by fighting against defenseless people, and non-moneyed websites, and picking up garbage 'precedents' wherever they can. But you will notice that in seriously contested cases they have never prevailed on any of their ludicrous substantive copyright arguments.
Mike, unlike myself, blogs about both subjects: (a) existing copyright law, and (b) copyright reform. He also blogs about how the music industry is changing, and about how it could set up better business models.
One needs to differentiate which subject he is talking about.
From my experience, when -- as in this article -- he is talking about existing copyright law, he has really taken the trouble to educate himself and to state the law correctly.
Would the RIAA and MPAA lawyers were as careful as he to do so.
Strange headline
Rather a strange headline. Why did you say "Jammie Thomas refuses to settle", as opposed to "RIAA refuses to settle"? Or better yet a neutral headline?
Lawyers' training
Mike said:
"Many lawyers are taught (or learn from experience) to approach any legal issue by going to an extreme position...."
How I would put it:
Many [inferior] lawyers [of the type being cloned these days by large law schools and large law firms which are oriented only towards achieving large 'profits per partner'] are taught (or learn from experience) to approach any legal issue by going to an extreme position......"
Re: Re: Thoughtful analysis
Gotcha.