Burden of Proof and the RIAA

[DaBees-Knees]

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/18230

It isn’t all bad. A new breed of lawyer is being born from the loathing directed at the Big 4 as they savage their own customers, using degenerate ‘trade’ organisations such as the RIAA as their weapons. Elizabeth Farina from the  Pittsburgh law firm of Swensen Perer & Kontos, is  defending Jerome Williams, a student at Carnegie Mellon who’s being mercilessly harassed by the Big 4 via their RIAA. “I met Jerome and realized that if the RIAA accusations went uncontested he’d likely face a crushing default judgment,” she told p2pnet. “My heart went out to him, and I wanted to do what I could to help him assert his rights and navigate these serious accusations.” Elizabeth is fighting to have copyright infringement allegations lodged by UMG Recordings, Elektra Entertainment Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment against Williams dismissed. It’s the same old story; that Jerome downloaded songs - eight, in this instance - the implication being in the process, he deprived the Big 4 of sales they’d otherwise have enjoyed. “Jerome’s case has particular appeal to me on a personal level because he’s such an intelligent young man with so much promise who’s now facing serious accusations that threaten to permanently derail his finances and career,” says Elizabeth, going on, “Many students accumulate massive student debt and face a hostile, often underpaying, job market upon graduation from college.”" She says because she usually represents plaintiffs in litigation, the concept of “burden of proof” is extremely important to her. “I was disturbed to see how often this concept is cast aside in RIAA cases,” she said, adding with these record industry cases, the RIAA plaintiffs simply have not been held to the task of proving the elements of their claims like the law requires. When I represent an injured individual in a medical malpractice or auto accident claim, it is my responsibility as plaintiff’s counsel to put forward adequate evidence to prove my client’s case. Just because the record industry plaintiffs are mammoth corporations with massive financial resources does not justify them shirking their burden of proof under the law, particularly when their claims can have such dire repercussions on often powerless individuals. 

UPDATE - On Recording Industry vs The People, under The last man sued? In Atlantic Recording v. Williams, one of the cases filed by RIAA on December 15th, defendant fights back, Ray Beckerman notes: “You may recall that, after the RIAA announced on December 18th that it was stopping its lawsuit campaign, and hadn’t filed any new lawsuits for months, we pointed out that this was a falsehood, and identified dozens of cases filed within a week or so of the announcement, some as late as December 15th. “We have now learned that one of the people sued on December 15th has retained counsel and made a motion to dismiss the complaint, in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, case Atlantic Recording v Williams.”

Definitely stay tuned.

The RIAA has wanted to act as judge and jury since it's inception, and still does, as can be seen by it's current efforts to get either isps or governments to do it's dirty work for it. It constantly uses false assumptions to try to prove it's case. They also rely heavily on defendants having little legal knowledge and little money with which to defend themselves.