mendoman and SynthesisDS both used our news submit to tell us about this story that is stirring up some contraversy around the net. One of th plaintiffs accused of copyright infringement by the RIAA, has thrown the legal equivalent of a Hail Mary pass. A New Jersey woman, has found an attorney that is taking the novel approach of countersuing the labels with extortion and violations of the federal anti-racketeering act.
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"This scare tactic has caused a vast amount of settlements from individuals who feared fighting such a large institution and feel victim to these actions and felt forced to provide funds to settle these actions instead of fighting," Scimeca's attorney, Bart Lombardo, wrote in documents filed with a New Jersey federal court. "These types of scare tactics are not permissible and amount to extortion." The industry group says that "a handful" of people have countersued, using a variety of claims. "If someone prefers not to settle, they of course have the opportunity to raise their objections in court," an RIAA representative said. "We stand by our claims." Even RIAA critics look at Scimeca's racketeering-based countersuit as a long shot. But it's worth trying, they say. "It is the first I've heard of anyone attempting that," said EFF legal director Cindy Cohn. "I guess that is a silver lining of the fact that the RIAA is suing so many people, that there are a lot of lawyers trying to figure out ways to protect folks." |
It takes a lot of guts to fight against the RIAA in these suits, especially if you are guilty. This case will hopefully be publicised in it's entirety so that we can see the effectiveness of this defense. However, the RIAA is working within the law as it is written, so frankly we shouldn't see this dragging out too long.
Source: C|Net
