So goes the slippery slope. RIAA and MPAA are seeking a permanent exception to anti-trust laws.
The regression of western civilization is a painful experience.
As it relates to copyright, not for its members when it comes to mergers and such.
Major League Baseball has an anti-trust exemption.
The members don’t even compete. Don’t you remember the price-fixing scandal?
I’m not sure what this has to do with anything.
What I understand they’re trying to do is create a situation where the RIAA, as opposed to the individual record labels, can sue users for copyright infringement on behalf of its members.
So RIAA price-fixing has nothing to do with RIAA copyright enforcement, and certainly nothing to do with the Sherman Anti-Trust Act? I’m sincerely confused how those three aren’t closely related.
Price fixing is from years ago, and this exemption would not be at all relevant; they would still be unable to operate as a cartel when it comes to pricing.
However, they are trying to get an exemption so they can go after copyright infringement as a single entity as opposed to having to individually sue people. It’s a very specific case for the exemption. It has nothing to do with price fixing.
I’m surprised they’d have to get an exemption for something so trivial then.
And the Patriot Act will only be used on “terrorists”.
They can’t do it without the exception, so it’s not entirely trivial. In fact, it’s probably a really bad idea.
I wonder if it would work the other way; could I then sue “The Record Industry” as represented by the RIAA, and get my cash from Universal, Sony, etc.? Man, that’d be a sweet lawsuit.
There’s really nothing to prevent you from doing this now – you’d just have to name the constituent members of the RIAA individually in the lawsuit, which isn’t a big deal. It isn’t like the RIAA’s membership is highly secret information, and naming multiple defendants in a single lawsuit is quite commonplace.