ray beckerman

We were a bit surprised last month when Denise Barker, who had been fighting the RIAA in a file sharing lawsuit decided to take the strategy of admitting guilt but challenging the constitutionality of the Copyright Act.

That seemed like a longshot that was unlikely to play well in court -- especially a court that had already decided against her in interpreting the whole "making available" thing.

You often hear it repeated that "ignorance is no defense" to breaking the law, but it may actually be working in one copyright infringement lawsuit.

Ray Beckerman has the details on a case where the RIAA is suing a teenager who claimed "innocent infringement" as a way to get the damages lowered from the $750 to $150,000 per file that the RIAA always pushes for.

Ray Beckerman, as you may already know, is a lawyer in New York who not only has defended numerous people against RIAA lawsuits, but also runs the Recording Industry vs.

The People blog, where he chronicles what's going on in these cases.

For many people, justice is something that is bought and sold in the US, especially where filesharing is concerned.

Few lawyers are willing to represent, and fewer still understand the technologies involved in cases. Ray Beckerman is one of the few that seem to, and he now has an article in the current edition of The Judges Journal, about the RIAA

For many people, justice is something that is bought and sold in the US, especially where filesharing is concerned.

Few lawyers are willing to represent, and fewer still understand the technologies involved in cases. Ray Beckerman is one of the few that seem to, and he now has an article in the current edition of The Judges Journal, about the RIAA lawsuits.

You may recall Bridgeport Music as a company that claims to own the rights to various musical compositions and has a long history of suing anyone who samples even the tiniest bits of that music.

The worst part is that there are very serious questions concerning whether or not it really has the rights to much of the music it claims to control.

George Clinton, for example, claims that Bridgeport used forged signatures to get control over his catalog.

Well, try to sort this one out. Slashdot, News.com and Ray Beckerman are all saying that the court in the Elektra vs.

Barker case have dealt the RIAA a "setback" by rejecting the "make available" theory of copyright infringement.

That sounds good, right?