RIAA Complaint Dismissed as "Boilerplate" 197
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The decision many lawyers had been expecting — that the RIAA's 'boilerplate' complaint fails to state a claim for relief under the Copyright Act — has indeed come down, but from an unlikely source. While the legal community has been looking towards a Manhattan case (Elektra v. Barker) for guidance, the decision instead came from Senior District Court Judge Rudi M. Brewster of the US District Court for the Southern District of California. The decision handed down denied a default judgment (i.e. the defendant had not even appeared in the action). Judge Brewster not only denied the default judgment motion but dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. Echoing the words of Judge Karas at the oral argument in Barker , Judge Brewster held (pdf) that 'Plaintiff here must present at least some facts to show the plausibility of their allegations of copyright infringement against the Defendant. However, other than the bare conclusory statement that on "information and belief" Defendant has downloaded, distributed and/or made available for distribution to the public copyrighted works, Plaintiffs have presented no facts that would indicate that this allegation is anything more than speculation.'"
Re:Are these people morons? (Score:5, Informative)
Total music industry revenue is about $40 billion worldwide, and about $12 billion in the United States, per year.
The GDP of the United States is $13.13 trillion, per year.
Compare this to "self storage" companies which make about $22.6 billion, per year.
Companies that supply lock up garages for people who own too much crap make almost twice as much per year as the music industry.
Re:Are these people morons? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:No facts? Exactly (Score:3, Informative)
Requiring the specific facts that make a "plausible" claim upon which relief may be granted to be present in a pleading has NEVER been required until Bell Atlantic v. Twombly was decided by the Supreme Court a few months ago. While the outcome in this particular situation (stopping the RIAA from making a likely frivolous claim) may been seen as a good thing, it is relying on a decision that overthrew decades of legal precedent designed to make sure everyone has their day in court, and had a fair shot at proving their claim.
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure specifically state that boilerplate complaints are valid. They even PROVIDE THE FORMS for crying out loud. If the RIAA has no case, it should be determined by summary judgment, AFTER DISCOVERY, not by dismissal because plaintiff hasn't presented a plausible case. That is what discovery is supposed to be for, especially in this type of case, where defendant has control of the evidence that may prove their violation, and certainly wouldn't surrender it without a court order.
The Bell Atlantic decision is a broken abortion of justice, and this case is relying on its bad law.
OK, that was a bit melodramatic. But you get the gist.
Don't get too enthusiastic (Score:4, Informative)
I wouldn't get too enthusiastic about this being a way out from under these lawsuits. It's a good win, but it's on very technical grounds and easy for the RIAA to deal with if they have even a shred of a tenuous case.
It's mainly about the technical requirements for a filing. Let's take the hypothetical case of me suing you for having stolen a car from my car lot. All I state in my complaint is that on information and belief I think you stole a car from me, and I attach a long list of cars (make, model, VIN, plate number, etc.). The problems with this complaint at this level are:
I suspect the RIAA got tripped up here because they never intended these cases to go to court. The filings were supposed to be merely clubs to wave at people to get them to settle, they were never supposed to actually be looked at as real lawsuits. We're going to see a lot of these for a while, but we're going to see a second round from the RIAA with these sorts of obvious errors fixed as they react to people actually fighting back. I'm not a lawyer, but I think one piece of advice is warranted: don't pick questionable defendants to fight this second wave. Pick ones that really are clean and can prove it and fight the RIAA on those. It's much easier to win judges over when you can present solid evidence in your favor, and much easier to fight the questionable defendants when you've got previous clean wins to cite.
Re:magine that riaa (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Are these people morons? (Score:5, Informative)
-only about 20% of the cases result in settlements, and
the RIAA is losing millions of dollars on the litigations.
They make money on quick settlements; they lose money on default judgments; they lose a lot of money on cases that litigate for awhile and then settle; and they lose a fortune on cases where the defendant fights back.
Re:Copyright infringement penalties are excessive! (Score:3, Informative)
We also allow private copying *and* unmodified redistribution of anything broadcast over public airwaves.
Just because these companies have spent so much money convincing you what you're doing is wrong does not mean it is in fact wrong, just that you've drank the kool-aid.
Re:Confessions of a convert (Score:3, Informative)
There are plenty of ways. We just need to use them.
ha (Score:5, Informative)
Speaking as a lawyer who has used that term in complaints: anytime you see the words "upon information and belief", that means "ummm...theoretically this might have maybe could have happened".
Re:Are these people morons? (Score:4, Informative)
No default judgment, but probably not over (Score:2, Informative)
For only a couple of dollars, it is possible to review the current case information using the PACER electronic file access system [uscourts.gov]. Interscope Record, et al., filed an amended complaint on August 23, 2007. The amended complaint goes beyond stating that the plaintiffs were "informed and believe that the Defendant" pirated their works:
The plaintiffs had to serve the the defendant again (by mail), but was otherwise not inconvenienced in this suit. Denying a motion to enter default judgment is not the same as dismissing the case altogether. The order even said that the plaintiffs were granted leave to amend the complaint.
The Recording Industry vs The People blog makes too big a deal about the RIAA not disclosing the Interscope order in another case. This was a trial-level order. It doesn't create an interpretation of law that is binding on any other court (if even itself). Law briefs are already long enough without having to cite thousands (if not millions) of trial-level non-binding orders and decisions that show that other trial-judges might decide against the argument.
Re:Confessions of a convert (Score:3, Informative)
Of course, today we have the aforementioned stereotype of the Starving Artist, evidence that the status of the artist is much lower than it was in the Renaissance, and probably lower than it was in the Middle Ages as well. But it wasn't always this way.
Interestingly enough, the sunset of the High Renaissance also saw the birth of the first copyright laws...suppose there's some sort of correlation?