Judge Rules Against MP3tunes: Hollow Victory for Record Labels?
By Dennis Kuba
August 24, 2011
August 24, 2011
- While a judge has ruled against MP3tunes and founder, Michael Robertson, for copyright infringement, the details of the ruling may provide online music locker businesses like those from Google and Amazon with a better legal foundation.
- A key finding is that users, not MP3tunes, had the ability to determine which files were placed in their lockers.
- Also, it was determined that DMCA does not require one to investigate potentially infringing activity without a specific complaint from copyright holders.
- “The news is even better for Google and Amazon,” according to Ars Technica. “Those companies’ music locker services do not even offer the broad sideloading functionality that has caused Robertson legal headaches. So if Judge Pauley’s reasoning survives appeal, Google and Amazon will be on solid legal ground. Indeed, those companies may even want to start thinking about whether they’ve been too cautious. For example, they might save a lot of money by taking advantage of the deduplication part of the ruling.”
2 Comments
Interesting potential precedent for video.
Interesting potential precedent for video.
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