RIAA: Madster flouting court order

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

NEWS
Record labels say file-swapping service Madster is violating the terms of a recent court order and should be shut down or fined until it starts blocking trades of copyrighted music. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) asked a Chicago federal court on Wednesday to hold bankrupt Madster -- formerly known as Aimster -- and its founder Johnny Deep in contempt of court. Deep has made no effort to comply with a court order issued last month that required the company to block trading of music belonging to the major record labels, the trade association said. "We regret having to take this step, but Mr. Deep has given us no other option," Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of the RIAA, said in a statement. "He is fully capable of complying with the order and has apparently decided to flout the court's authority." Deep could not immediately be reached for comment. Madster's legal travails have gone on since early last year, although the service's popularity has long since been eclipsed by networks such as Kazaa and Morpheus. Madster and Deep have consistently lost arguments in court, and recent rulings against the company have made their way into the record labels' legal suits against newer, more popular services. The battle currently resembles the now-defunct Napster's late days of operation, after the company had already been told to block many trades and was fighting with labels over the efficacy of song-filtering techniques. That struggle ultimately led Napster to shut down its file-trading service altogether. In a recent filing with the court, Deep called it "impractical" to block large numbers of copyright songs from being traded through the Madster service. The RIAA responded in its motion for contempt that the option was to simply close the service down. The company could "turn (the service) off easily in several ways, including simply turning off the power to the servers that (Madster) operates," the labels' trade association wrote in its legal brief. "If the system was turned off, infringement on the (Madster) system necessarily would cease." The RIAA asked that a compliance officer be appointed to ensure the song-blocking was achieved in whatever form necessary and that Deep be fined $1,500 (about £960) a day until song-trading stops. Madster has claimed to have about 9,000 subscribers paying $4.95 a month, resulting in revenue of about $45,000 a month, or about $1,500 a day, the group said. Although the case remains important for its legal precedent-setting effect, more eyes have turned to a Los Angeles courtroom, where a pair of hearings over the next few weeks may have more real effect on the file-swapping world. On Monday, a Los Angeles federal judge will hear arguments as to whether the RIAA and movie studios can sue Kazaa parent Sharman Networks, which is incorporated in the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, in United States court. On 2 December, the same court will hear arguments as to whether the labels' and movie studios' suit against Morpheus parent Streamcast Networks and rival Grokster should be decided immediately, before going to a full trial.
See the MP3/P2P News Section for the latest on everything from MP3 players to Napster and the other file-swapping services. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the P2P Debate. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Talkback

It's funny if you look back in time to when Rock & Roll was starting out. It was the recording industry that was ripping off the recording artisit. Now the Recording industry is putting up a wall between the customers and the music. I for one will never ever buy another record or CD and I will discourage my kids from doing so too. I would not piss in the RIAA's mouth if it was on Fire. If the musicians let this happen, then what happens to their livelyhood is there fault. They quickly forget who put them were they are. Most are were they are at because somewere ran out of shovels.

via Facebook 10 September, 2003 18:12
Reply

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

TerryRK

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

4 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Freebies202

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

14 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source
kevinmchapman

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

22 hours ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Marg Menzies Harrison

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

23 hours ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid
zdnetukuser

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

24 hours ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface
Moley

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Dennis Nilsson

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

1 day ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany
GHar123

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

1 day ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
JCB33

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

2 days ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
Moley

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
greycynic

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

2 days ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
GrueMaster

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

2 days ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Frederick Wrigley

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

2 days ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
bdantas

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

2 days ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

2 days ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

2 days ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material