Copyright Law

Lava v Amurao appeal argued on September 23rd, decision reserved

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

I attended the argument of the appeal in Lava Records v. Amurao on September 23rd.

The Court reserved decision.

During the appellant's initial argument, and the appellees' opposing argument, the questions of the judges focused on the specific facts of the case, primarily (a) a letter Mr. Amurao had sent prior to the lawsuit incorrectly indicating that "we" had engaged in file sharing, even though he himself had never engaged in it, and (b) Mr. Amurao's testimony at his deposition.

However, when Mr. Amurao's attorney, Richard A. Altman, rose for the rebuttal argument, the focus of the Court's questioning shifted to the type of evidence the RIAA had garnered prior to pursuing Mr. Amurao, i.e., the MediaSentry activities.

None of the members of the Court appeared familiar with those procedures. By the end of that final portion of the argument, however, they seemed to have understood that the MediaSentry investigation and subpoena could at best have led the RIAA to a computing device and to an an internet access account, but could not have identified an individual who had committed copyright infringement.

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Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on September 28, 2009 (boomark / email).