Morning Sentinel
Music industry sues Augusta man
By BETTY ADAMS
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Tuesday, February 6, 2007

By BETTY ADAMS

Staff Writer

In its running legal battle against unauthorized downloaders, five recording companies have sued an Augusta man in federal court claiming he illegally pirated and shared copyrighted music.

Scott Hinds, 23, is a defendant in one of a number of lawsuits by Recording Industry of America affiliates seeking to halt illegal sharing of copyrighted songs -- a once-widespread practice some maintain was "fair use," encouraged by certain computer software.

As artists attempt to regain control of their music -- and reap profits from sales -- recording industry spokeswoman Amanda Hunter said 18,000 individuals have been sued in similar lawsuits since September 2003, but Hinds is one of only six defendants in Maine.

Hinds said he is not yet represented by a lawyer.

Monday, he wondered: "Why choose me?"

"Every single person has done this," he said, saying he doesn't listen to music online presently.

The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, alleges Hinds illegally downloaded:

n "Automobile" by NWA, Priority Records, LLC;

n "All Over You" by LIve, UMG Recordings Inc.;

n "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman, Elektra Entertainment Group;

n "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones, Capitol Records Inc.; and

n "What Would You Say" by Dave Matthews Band, BMG Music.

The allegation is that Hinds used an "online media distribution system" to download tunes, then distributed the copyrighted material to others.

The lawsuit doesn't identify the download service Hinds allegedly used, nor does it identify individual users who allegedly obtained the copyrighted music from Hinds.

According to the association, "online investigators searched for copyrighted recordings made available by individuals on peer-to-peer networks."

They then filed a lawsuit against Internet service providers prompting them to identify individuals who allegedly shared music files.

Hinds faces a minimum civil penalty of $750 per song. There can be criminal penalties as well.

If guilty, Hinds would hardly be the first person found downloading music on the Internet; the Internet has been chockablock with sites offering free music almost since there have been browsers and bandwidth.

The most well-known site -- Napster, founded in 1999 by 18-year-old college dropout Shawn Fanning -- signed up 25 million users in its first year.

In 2000, the Recording Industry Association of America sued Napster, charging "tributary copyright infringement" -- an allegation that Napster was not violating copyright itself, but was contributing to and facilitating other people's infringement.

The premise of the civil lawsuit against Hinds is a December 2005 decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court's 2004 opinion in MGM Studios, Inc., v. Grokster Ltd.

In the latter case, the court found "that a distributed file-sharing system is engaged in contributory copyright infringement when its principal object is the dissemination of copyrighted material.

"The foundation of this holding is a belief that people who post or download music files are primary infringers."


Reader comments

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Martin Lowrence of Tolm, ME
Mar 24, 2009 5:01 AM
In order not to have problems with anything, I prefer buying disks or downloading music from rapidshare (thanks god, http://rapidqueen.com/ makes this process quick)- as far as I knwo this is legal, right?report abuse
nines09 of Big Little City, SD
Feb 17, 2007 2:17 AM
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.
- Hunter S. Thompson

The original point on Dr Dre and Metallica was this; They're the bad boys? Metallica got NO airplay except on college stations and CD's they sold.They played speed metal. Dre and the Hoods had their own footprint till big money saw a way to make BIGGER money. Now they are players in a players game, and are forced to come crying about a thing that they both did to get noticed and spread their product. As far as profit sharing by a label goes, well it only goes so far. It's called selling out, and it means you lose control and rights to your product, and 9 times out of 10 they will produce you as they see fit untill the vision you had is an hallucination. The R&B I hear today is not Rhythm and Blues. The country is POP, and the rock is just what sold last week. Plenty of bands are frozen out because the Labels only want into BIG money, a sure thing, looks and beauty. See an ugly band lately make large with label promo? They could care less about integity or quality. Did you ever consider what the Oldies stations will be playing in 20 years? This drivel? Don't sell enough and blip! Off the radar, and now you owe them money. No, boys and girls, it's not "illegal" downloads. It's crap product that has sales down. PreFab bands that sound just like...same old tired crap that gets played over, and over, and over, till you think you like it. Untill you hear it again 3 years later. Just turn your attention to the movies. Wow, really original stuff there. Step on a dollar to pick up a dime. Just my opinion. I can have one, you know. Now go get the CD with 8 poop songs on it, it's got that one that reminds you of.....report abuse
vegicide
Feb 8, 2007 10:37 PM
Dear Mister jay hov of atlanta, GA

You responded to my previous picture/couch copying is not stealing analogy with :

"Hey, let me know when you can put that picture on the floor in the living room and you and your friends can have a seat on the picture and watch the football game.

That's the most ridiculous argument I've ever heard. A picture is not a usable duplication of a product like a copied mp3 file is!"

- Although I cannot disagree with your argument, I believe that you have missed mine entirely. I stated that making or receiving a copy of something is not the same thing as stealing or even "taking" it. I used the simple analogy of someone coming into a house and taking a picture of a couch as opposed to taking the couch to illustrate the the difference between STEALING something and COPYING something. Perhaps my analogy was over-simplified or poorly chosen, I only use a cracked copy of protools I downloaded of the internet (I kid, I kid =)

The words stealing and theft imply that goods/items/whatever something tangible are taken against the owners will. Who do you believe owns the MP3 files being shared the copyright holder or the person with them on her/his computer?

Regarding the rest of your retort : If I walked into a furniture store, took pictures of the same couch, then went out and made an identical couch which I distributed freely to the public, that furniture creator could very well "have my tail on a hot defendants seat in front of the legal bench" but I would do him no good as I would not be profiting by freely distributing the couches that I had made to the public.
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AbleGoodman of Grand Junction, CO
Feb 8, 2007 8:39 PM
I consider those of Jay hov’s ilk to be truly DANGEROUS people, and here’s why. As I said the problem is self-evidently technology-induced. So for a gang of lawyers to attack some poor ignorant young kid who is very unlikely to have either the money or the knowledge of politics and the law to combat them effectively, is nothing more or less than cowardly and bully-ish. Let them come after somebody who knows how to fight back and establish facts which will result in legal precedents favorable to freedom!
It is theoretically possible to legally pay for, and legally download, a music file. That being an obvious fact, if person A legally paid for and downloaded a computer file of a certain song, and person B legally paid for, and downloaded a computer file of another song it would be perfectly legal for person A and person B to exchange those two legally bought and paid for computer files over the Internet via email attachments, just the same as it is perfectly legal for person A and person B to trade or exchange legitimately purchased CDs with each other through the parcel post. No money is involved, and no profit is involved, and that fact can be brought out in an affirmative defense. If the plaintiff disagrees, then he can assume the burden of trying to prove there was profit.
The problem with truly dangerous (self-absorbed and greedy to boot) thinking like Jay hov’s is that, in order to find out whether or not the LEGAL exchange of LEGALLY bought and paid for files by hypothetical persons A and B was actually illegal, the control-freak copyright owners and their corporations would have to be able to TOTALLY monitor and regulate the entire Internet. The thought of such Orwellian BIG BROTHER government intrusion into people’s privacy must necessarily be anathema to any and all decent freedom-loving persons. A free and unregulated Internet, along with the free flow of ideas and information, is CRUCIAL to the achieving the potential and destiny of humankind.
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