Many were surpised when Judge Jed S. Rakoff made his decision
without a written opinion over a week ago, leaving the legal
grounds for the ruling open to speculation.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) brought the
action on behalf of the companies, seeking as much as US$6 billion
in damages. MP3 technology enables the conversion of compact disc
recordings into downloadable files.
In January, MP3.com launched a service called MyMP3.com. The
company built up a library of popular CDs, copied them onto a
server accessible from its web site and invited subscibers to
customise and download the music files from any location. In an
attempt to avoid copyright infringement, subscribers were required
to either demonstrate that they already owned any of the CDs from
which they wanted to download MP3 format tracks or purchase the CDs
from an on-line retailer co-operating with MP3.com.
However, the precautions were insufficient. Judge Jed S. Rakoff
commented that, while MP3.com "seeks to portray its service as the
functional equivalent of storing its subscribers' CDs", it is in
fact replaying for the subscribers converted versions of the
recordings it copied, without authorisation, from copyrighted
CDs.
MP3.com had attempted to argue that its copying service was
"fair use," a defence under the relevant US legislation. However,
Judge Rakoff said that any claim of fair use was negated by, among
other factors, the sheer volume of copying.
He went on to dismiss the company's argument that its service to
consumers would otherwise be provided by pirates. "Copyright," said
Judge Rakoff, "is not designed to afford consumer protection or
convenience, but, rather, to protect the copyright holders'
property interests."
