File-sharer loses case

The operative word in that headline is “loses.” This is one of the rare cases in which the defendant didn’t settle with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). But it’s interesting that the defendant was mainly identified as a mother in the coverage: Nearly all of the 100+ news sites and papers around the world that picked up the story have “mom” in their headlines. In this case, Syliva Gonzalez, not her children, was the one doing the file-sharing, according to the Associated Press. Ms. Gonzalez, who was among the first 261 file-sharers sued by the RIAA back in 2003, “contended she had downloaded songs to determine what she liked enough to buy at retail. She said she and her husband regularly buy music CDs and own more than 250. However, the appeals panel [the federal court that last week upheld the original decision in favor of the recording industry] said Gonzalez never deleted songs off her computer she decided not to buy.” The AP adds that this case “represents one of the earliest appeals court victories by the music industry in copyright lawsuits it has filed against thousands [some 17,000].” Here’s the decision at FindLaw.com. We’ll keep watching for the results of a case in which a parent or guardian was sued for a child’s file-sharing (see this story). Meanwhile, another tactic the industry used to discourage file-sharing (by sharing millions of fake music and movie files on servers around the world) is going away. Seattle-based Loudeye is “shuttering its Overpeer division … in an attempt to bolster the parent company’s bottom line,” CNET and the BBC report. [Thanks to BNA Internet Law for pointing this news out.]