In a legal fight that is bound to take years until it’s resolved, the record industry filed suit today against XM Satellite radio over its new portable device that allows customers to record up to 50 hours of music. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. Federal Court in New York, alleges that the $400 portable device, called “Inno,” facilitates “massive, wholesale infringement.”
The suit seeks $150,000 in damages for every song copied by XM customers using the device. The record companies maintain that the Inno is nothing more than an iPod-like device, and of course Apple and other online music distributors pay royalties when songs are downloaded to user devices.
“Yahoo!, Rhapsody, iTunes and Napster all have licenses,” said Mitch Bainwol, chief executive for the Recording Industry Association of America. “There’s no reason XM shouldn’t as well.”
But, and it’s a major caveat to the RIAA’s position, courts have long upheld a listener’s right to record for personal use music aired on radio or other traditional distribution methods. Now, this lawsuit is likely to trigger a massive effort to categorize this long-standing personal recording right based on the type of technology. Which is why this will become a battle royale with far-reaching implications. Either Congress (which tends to favor copyright holders in these matters, at least lately) or the Supreme Court will probably be the ultimate arbiters of this dispute, and all kinds of technologies might be swept up in new laws.
Gigi Sohn, President of Public Knowledge, voiced similar sentiments in a statement regarding this lawsuit.
“Consumers for years have had the legal right to record music for their own use. This lawsuit threatens that right on the grounds that consumers now have advanced technology at their disposal in recording songs. The shame of the legal action, however, is that this is really a dispute between XM and the recording industry over licensing fees. The companies should be left to figure out a solution without interference from the courts or from Congress.”
Update: Brian Ward at The Deal’s TechEffect Blog (one of my favorite new resources) has this interesting take on the XM lawsuit. He basically says that XM stuck its chin out, should have expected this and should settle.
The smartest move is probably to settle. While it never sits well when you succumb to bully tactics, you’d think they might have seen the writing on the wall when Sirius cut its deal. The fact of the matter is that the RIAA holds the upper hand, it won’t hurt the studios at all if XM doesn’t have music to play
Cynthia Brumfield at 6:37 PM|Comments(0)
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