Will Judge Force RIAA to Lift Her Skirt?

Filed in archive Legal on November 13, 2006

In Universal Music Group v. Lindor, the defendant has filed a motion to obtain details on RIAA's agreement with MediaSentry, which provided the alleged copyright information to the recording labels. Now RIAA has responded.

This is one of the few times RIAA has been put on the defensive in the consumer copyright infringement Suits. I won't comment on the legal aspect of the motion. Plaintiff argues that MediaSentry work is covered by attorney-client privilege and it is proprietary.

Technically I doubt that obtaining such information from MediaSentry will result in anything usable for the defense. The plaintiff already provided detailed evidence that document the detection of song download and sharing information. But you never know what you'll find.

The interesting part is on the policy side. The data would illuminate how individuals are selected for the lawsuits. Indeed RIAA has claimed that future infringers could use that information to avoid the suits.