RIAA U-Turn On CD Ripping

[GhostShip]

Once again folks the luddites and idiots at the RIAA are doing a U turn on previous claims they have made, they really need to get their act together  :roll:

http://www.switched.com/2007/12/11/riaa-claims-ripping-cds-for-personal-use-is-illegal/

The RIAA has filed a brief in an Arizona U.S. District Court against Jeffrey and Pamela Howell, an average Joe and Jane couple who have ripped their CD collection to MP3s for easy sharing throughout their home and -- presumably -- iPods. The brief claims that ripping CDs to MP3s is a violation of copyright laws and the fair use doctrine.

The audacity of the RIAA's claim wouldn't be to surprising, given its penchant for overzealous attacks of digital media, if it weren't in direct contradiction of arguments made by RIAA lawyers in a case filed in 2005. In the case, MGM Vs. Grokster, representation from the RIAA explicitly said that making digital copies of music for personal use was protected.

Atlantic Vs. Howell is scheduled to have its first hearing on January 24.

Lets see the lawyers who advise the RIAA waffle their way out of this one, either they gave false evidence in the Grokster case or their claims are purely frivolous in this case, talk about a "crazy for cash suing model", its great news for the rest of us that this sort of case gets plenty of publicity as it makes life harder for their "donation" grabbing political allies to pass anti consumer legislation stealthily.

[Cobra]

They sound just like politicians to me. They say whatever it takes, truth or lie, to try and sway things in their favor even if it is the exact opposite of what they said yesterday on a similar issue.

Why doesn't the RIAA just pay artists directly out of the fast amounts of cash you apprently have laying around? They are spending much more than they are winning on cases and I doubt it has slowed anything down that they are fighting againt.

[SamSeeSam]

Making backups is illegal?
Well the law says it isn't, so it doesn't matter anyways.
I always make backups of all the songs I have in case of crashes or loss... It's perfectly legal and normal.

Cheers

[GhostShip]

Your quite correct Sam I looked over a few legal precedents where "fair use" is given legal protection from those seeking to defraud the consumer with misleading claims.

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/property00/MP3/rio.html

As is made clear in this judgement and the Grokster one "fair use" is legally protected and most countries legislative bodies around the world accept making a copy of music you have purchased for your own personal use is legitimate.