One of the claims the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) likes to (and has to) make is that simply sharing a file (putting it in a shared folder) on a P2P network is the same thing as distributing. Otherwise, the trade group would need to provide evidence of actual infringement in a case. It seems now however, in Atlantic v. Howell, a Judge has sided with the RIAA that sharing is equal to distribution.
After being sued in 2006, Pamela and Jeffrey Howell decided to defend themselves and submitted a short three paragraph answer to the RIAA. In it, they argued that the file sharing program was not set to share, the music was legally purchased for private use and was stored on the hard drive to be transfered to portable devices.
Judge Neil V. Wake dismissed the Howell's claims and awarded statutory damages of $40,500 to the RIAA along with $350 in court costs. A permanent injunction against future copyright infringement by the Howells was also handed down. "Several cases suggest that Kazaa users commit direct infringement by employing the Kazaa program to make their collections of copyrighted sound recordings available to all other Kazaa users," wrote Judge Wake, citing three other cases and Howells admission that the Kazaa account in question as in fact his.
Source:
Ars Technica
Judge Neil V. Wake dismissed the Howell's claims and awarded statutory damages of $40,500 to the RIAA along with $350 in court costs. A permanent injunction against future copyright infringement by the Howells was also handed down. "Several cases suggest that Kazaa users commit direct infringement by employing the Kazaa program to make their collections of copyrighted sound recordings available to all other Kazaa users," wrote Judge Wake, citing three other cases and Howells admission that the Kazaa account in question as in fact his.
Source:
Ars Technica
