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'Making available' equals copyright infringement |
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Written by Felix Da Silva (fdasilva@bitnip.com)
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Tuesday, 28 August 2007 |
 A judge ruled in the case of Atlantic v. Howell
file sharing lawsuit that "making available" of
copyrighted works using peer-to-peer software such as Kazaa constitutes as copyright
infringement.
Copyright owners have the exclusive rights to distribute or license their works, the key here is whether sharing a song or making it available in a P2P folder is the same thing as
distributing it.
The RIAA's monitoring partner, MediaSentry, submitted screenshots showing
that the Howells shared 54 copyrighted songs and
Howell admitted under deposition that they came from his CDs. However, he
claimed MediaSentry's screenshot didn't prove anyone downloaded the songs or
that he knowingly shared them.
The Howells in this case also argued that
their file-sharing program was "not set up to share" and that the files found by
Media Sentry were "for private use" and "for transfer to portable devices, that
is legal for 'fair use.'
The judge disagreed, writing in an Order
(PDF) granting Atlantic's Motion for Summary Judgment, "It is no defense that a Kazaa
user did not directly oversee the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted
material."
The judge awarded Atlantic Records $40,500, or
$750 per song.
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