Old Li2-Crystals

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There's an interesting turn in one of those seemingly endless lawsuits brought by the RIAA against just about anybody they decide to claim has been downloading copyrighted music. In St. Louis, Missouri in the case of Atlantic Recording v. Raleigh, the defense has filed counterclaims that accuse the RIAA of a neat laundry list of offenses including RICO, Fraud, Conspiracy, Trespass, Prima Facie Tort, and violation of the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act.

It looks to me like it's becoming more of a trend for the RIAA's legal bullying to run afoul of stuff that, when it's all added together, is going to have several somebodies getting out their Samsonite luggage and packing for a trip to prison.

What's more, this is another indication that sooner or later the RIAA is going to fold under the weight of massive financial and legal judgements against them.

The case of Atlantic Recording v. Raleigh could, with this counterclaim, end up being a class action that could be joined by anyone who's been falsely accused of downloading copyrighted music and making them available on P2P networks for anyone to download and has had to deal with legal fees as well as the costs and damages of trying to defend these false claims. Also included would be people whose computers used in interstate commerce and / or communication (that's just about any computer on the internet isn't it?) without permission or proper legal authority.

This is also not the first class action that's been brought against the RIAA, There's a case in Oregon being brought by Tanya Andersen and is in the discovery phase right now.

Methinks it's time for the RIAA and their movie counterparts in the MPAA to pack it in before they really get nuked.

Technorati Tags: counterclaim, riaa, tort, p2p networks, fraud abuse, trespass, interstate commerce, computer fraud, extortion, lawsuits

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