TALES FROM THE COPYRIGHT POLICE BLOTTER
The Recording Industry Association of America hasn't forgotten about old-school piracy in this high-tech world. Reporting on its February activities, the RIAA's Anti-Piracy Unit said that it has worked in tandem with the police in New York, Chicago, San Antonio and Richmond to bust a number of alleged music pirates and counterfeiting devices. "Our ongoing efforts with law enforcement and prosecutors at the federal, state and local levels are continuing to show clear results," said RIAA SVP Frank Creighton. "There is not a corner in this country where we will not look. Or, did I mean ‘There is a corner in the country where we will look?' Anyone selling, manufacturing or distributing suspected illegal sound recordings will be found."
COPYRIGHT.NET NETS SITE CLOSURE
Nashville's Copyright.net, a company that monitors Internet file-exchange sites for 750 music publishers, forced programmer Tim Wilson to stop offering MP3 Translator, a program that changed artist names and song titles on files into coded titles. The purpose of the program was to slip through Napster's new filtering system. Copyright.net's lawyers didn't go to Wilson directly; instead, they persuaded his Internet Service Provider, Excite@Home, to close Wilson's site. They in turn contacted web host My Gigabyte, which told Wilson that taking the site down was up to him. Copyright.net's basis was part of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which made it illegal to distribute hardware and software with the purpose of bypassing copyright protection. Copyright.net announced that its next target will be Aimster. The Instant Message-based swapper is distributing Pig Encoder, a program that reverses characters in MP3 files. The company mistakenly targeted hitsdailydouble.com, perhaps because of our "Pig Fantasy" section. Observers are questioning whether changing the name of a file or artist really circumvents a protection mechanism. Commented one industry exec, "Get me ten more geeks and fifty more lawyers."
ZAPPA ESTATE ZAPS EMUSIC
Proving that there isn't an Internet music site that hasn't sued and been sued, Gail Zappa, widow of the great Frank Zappa, filed suit against EMusic on Friday. Zappa's suit asks for $5 million in damages for copyright infringement. The suit stems from free downloads of 37 Zappa tracks, which EMusic allegedly offered without getting permission from the Zappa Family Trust. This just in from the irony department: EMusic filed suit against Napster last week for copyright infringment, because songs from the netco were available on the swappery. If only there were a way for Napster to sue Zappa… Also, EMusic is doing what it can to distance itself from its more notorious contemporary by launching a promotion for "former Napster users and other digital music fans." Anyone can download one free album or 15 singles from the site, and subscribers are entitled to ten free legal briefs.
