RIAA Copyright Misuse Charged
In RIAA copyright infringement case Lava v. Amurao, the defendant has successfully raised an interesting legal theory of copyright misuse. Judge Charles L. Brieant rejected RIAA's motion to dismiss this charge.
The copyright misuse counterclaim states that the plaintiffs should lose their copyrights in the songs that form the basis for their suit on the ground that they are "competitors in the business of recorded music…..[and] are a cartel acting collusively in violation of the antitrust laws and public policy, by litigating and settling all cases similar to this one together, and by entering into an unlawful agreement among themselves to prosecute and to dispose of all cases in an identical manner and through common lawyers….. Such actions represent an attempt….to secure for themselves rights far exceeding those provided by copyright laws……Such acts constitute misuse of copyrights, and lead to a forfeiture of the exclusive rights…..".
Funny you mention copyright misuse. Directv used there intellectual property right to turn off the programming for which I paid. Then tried to get more money from me when we were under a one year contract which could not be changed. Even though Directv used there intellectual property right to change settings with in an embedded chip to effect the theft of programming, Directv was able to sue me stating there intellectually property right was violated when I tried to counter the chips action to stop the theft. So the copyright over rides a persons right to protect there own property even when the copyright holder uses that right in the commission of a crime such as theft. The federal case was Luaces V. Directv 1997, Miami Florida.