RIAA in another wonderful PR mess :)

I totally borrowed this from AllOfMP3.com, in fact its a reproduction of a recent post from their blog. I don’t imagine they will be pissed about it as anything that promotes their efforts to defeat the RIAA is probably a-oo-k in their books.

I hate what is happening in the music industry and thankfully it seems like the movie industry is desperately trying to avoid a similar fate. The good thing about the movie industry taking a different path is that maybe they will develop a viable 21st century approach and then the music industry will have a path to follow to a healthier future.

Labels countersued by a teenager

The Santangelo kid sued by the RIAA for file-sharing is countersuing the recording industry for violating antitrust laws, conspiring to defraud the courts and making extortionate threats (Associated Press).  This story has been going on for a few years now.

Robert Santangelo, now 16 years old was 11 when the alleged piracy took place. He denies any wrongdoing and claims it is impossible to prove anything anyway.

Robert is the son of Patti Santangelo, a mom of 5 sued by the RIAA in 2005. She refused to pay the settlement. The case drew a lot of public attention and the industry finally dropped the case against her. Instead two of the Santangelo children are being sued now a 16 year old Robert and his sister Michelle, now 20.

Robert defends himself by claiming that “he never sent copyrighted music to others, that the recording companies promoted file sharing before turning against it, that average computer users were never warned that it was illegal, that the statute of limitations has passed, and that all the music claimed to have been downloaded was actually owned by his sister on store-bought CD (Associated Press).

Apart from raising defences Santagelo is also counter suing the labels and claims that “ostensibly competitors in the recording industry, are a cartel acting collectively in violation of the antitrust laws and public policy” by bringing the piracy cases jointly and using the same agency “to make extortionate threats … to force defendants to pay.”

Source: Labels countersued by a teenager

Read more:
Teen accuses record companies of collusion, Associated Press
Santangelo Teenager Files Countersuit Against RIAA, Digital Music News
Teen Sues Major Labels For Collusion, Hypebot