COPYCENSE

“The Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand let stand a lower court decision holding that the recording industry can’t force internet service providers to turn over the names of users trading music files online, effectively stopping one of the legal tactics of the music business as it tries to stamp out piracy.

“The case (.pdf) pitted the Recording Industry Association of America against Verizon Internet Services, which earlier had challenged a 2002 copyright subpoena stemming from a provision in the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

“Tuesday’s loss came as a blow to the entertainment industry, which has tried to use litigation as a way to deter alleged copyright infringement on peer-to-peer networks.”

Michael Grebb. Music Industry Spurned by Court. Wired News. Oct. 12, 2004.

See also:
Electronic Frontier Foundation. No “Fishing License” for the RIAA. Deep Links. Oct. 12, 2004.

No author. Subpoenas Snubbed in File-Sharing Fight. Red Herring. Oct. 12, 2004.

Gina Holland. High Court Won’t Hear Music Sharing Case. SiliconValley.com. Oct. 12, 2004.

Cynthia Webb. Supremes Quietly Change Piracy Debate. WashingtonPost.com. Oct. 13, 2004.

Update: WashingtonPost.com Supreme Court Internet Privacy Decision. Oct. 14, 2004. (Transcript of chat between Post writer David McGuire and Verizon vice president and associate general counsel Sarah Deutsch. Verizon was the lead party in the fight over keeping subscribers’ identities private from entertainment companies seeking to sue for copyright infringement.)

(Editor�s Note: The Post allows free access to their stories on the Web for 14 days before sending the stories to the paper�s fee-based Archives.)