Record Industry May Not Subpoena Providers (Thanks to Tim Swanson)
Addendum: Blow to online music piracy fight: “Attempts by the record industry to fight music piracy on the internet have suffered a double setback. … A US court said that the recording industry’s methods to find music swappers are not allowed by the law. … In a separate ruling, the Dutch Supreme Court decided that the popular file-sharing program, Kazaa, is not breaking the law.
“The Recording Industry Association of America had issued hundreds of subpoenas to force internet providers, such as Verizon, to identify customers suspected of file-swapping.
“But Verizon argued that existing copyright law did not give the recording industry the power to force it to hand over names and addresses of their subscribers.
“A three-judge panel has now agreed with its interpretation of the law, overturning an earlier ruling that had approved the use of subpoenas.
[…]
“There was more bad news for the record labels, this time from the Dutch Supreme Court. … It ruled that the world’s most popular file-sharing program, Kazaa, was not breaking the law. … The Dutch court said that the developers of the software could not be held responsible for how individuals used it.”
11:54 am on December 19, 2003
