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RIAA Boss Clarifies Lawsuit

Posted Jan 5, 08 9:06 CST in US,  Technology 

(Newser) – RIAA chief Cary Sherman says the recording industry has never prosecuted anyone for  ripping or copying CDs for personal use, Engadget reports. Sherman appeared on NPR and characterized media reports about a recent high-profile suit as inaccurate. The legal action, he said, is against a man who ripped CDs not just for himself but to give others access as well through file sharing.

Sherman didn't come out and say that ripping was 100% legal, but he made it clear that the RIAA had never prosecuted anybody for it. "Copyright law is very complicated," he said. He also said a Sony lawyer misspoke by saying, "Ripping is just a nice way of saying 'steals one copy.'" Neither RIAA nor Sony takes that position, he said.
Source: Engadget

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The trial that a Washington Post columnist claimed was about CDs being ripped to computer was actually just another file-sharing case. The man in court says that he put his CDs on his computer, but had...   (Getty Images)
In the past, the RIAA had said making copies onto "analog cassettes, special audio CD-Rs, minidiscs, and digital tapes" is legal, because those are all expressly allowed by law.   (Flickr )
RIAA president Cary Sherman didn't quite come out and say that ripping CDs onto computers was absolutely legal, but he said that the RIAA has never brought a single claim over copying for personal use...   (Flickr )
The chief of the Recording Industry Association of America has said that a Washington Post story saying the RIAA was suing computer users who ripped their CDs onto their computers was wrong and that a...   (Shutter Stock)
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music industry • copyright • file sharing • copyright law • RIAA • MP3s • Cary Sherman


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