Recording industry charged with copyright infringement

[40hz]

This is one of those news stories that's "just so perfect" you'd think it was a joke the first time you heard it.

Courtesy of OSNews comes this interesting report of how major players in the Canadian music industry (Warner, Sony, EMI, and Universal Music) are being sued for copyright infringement to the tune of $50 million USD. And what makes it even more eye-opening is that these companies admit they have been infringing.

Link to full article: www.osnews.com/story/22590/Canadian_Recording_Industry_Faces_Massive_Infringment_Claims

 Canadian Recording Industry Faces Massive Infringment Claims
posted by Thom Holwerda on Tue 8th Dec 2009 19:19 UTC

And we have news of yet another massive copyright infringement lawsuit in the music industry. This one takes place in Canada, and the infringed party is placing a truly massive claim on the infringing party: 50 million USD, with the possibility of it exceeding 60 billion USD. Bad news? Well, no, not really - you really need to consider the infringing party in this one. This is irony not even the ancient Greeks could imagine.

The infringed party in this particular case consists of, among others, Chet Baker, a leading jazz musician in the 1950, who played various instruments and died in 1988. His legacy is maintained by his estate, which owns the copyright on 50 of his works. The infringing party has already admitted the infringing behaviour, meaning they own at least 50 million USD.

Now, here's the real shocker: the infringing party is none other than... The Canadian music industry: Warner Music Canada, Sony BMG Music Canada, EMI Music Canada, and Universal Music Canada - the four main members of the Canadian Recording Industry Association.

And now for the real kicker:

And here comes that sweet, sweet taste of irony, a taste sprinkled in fairy dust and brought to you by pretty pixies riding on pink unicorns: the recording industry successfully argued in Canada that pirates have to pay 20000 USD per infringement, which means that the potential liability exceeds 60 billion USD. "These numbers may sound outrageous, yet they are based on the same rules that led the recording industry to claim a single file sharer is liable for millions in damages," says Michael Geist, Internet Law columnist at The Star. He also holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa.

"After years of claiming Canadian consumers disrespect copyright, the irony of having the recording industry face a massive lawsuit will not be lost on anyone, least of all the artists still waiting to be paid," Geist further details, "Indeed, they are also seeking punitive damages, arguing "the conduct of the defendant record companies is aggravated by their strict and unremitting approach to the enforcement of their copyright interests against consumers"."

Love it!

[Innuendo]

[Nelson]

Ha! Ha!

[/Nelson]

[Shades]

The record companies is the perfect example of 'biting the hand that feeds them'...actually, they bit both hands as it appears from this article. Charging consumers too much for the dribble they put out lately and on the other side the creative input they so clearly need.

[f0dder]

Saw this a couple of days ago, and I'm loving it