Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Lava v Amurao attorneys fee appeal set for Sept 23 in 2nd Circuit

Rolando Amurao's appeal from a lower court order denying his motion for attorneys fees in Lava Records v. Amurao, is scheduled to be argued before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, on Wednesday, September 23rd, on the Court's 10:00 a.m. calendar (pdf).

The appeal was initially scheduled to be argued on May 19th, but was adjourned at the RIAA's request.

[Ed. note. The case presents a typical "throwing in the towel" scenario. Mr. Amurao was sued only because he was the person who paid the bills for the internet access account in question. Subsequently, after substantial litigation, his daughter testified that she had engaged in p2p file sharing. The RIAA thereafter withdrew the case against Mr. Amurao, but refused to reimburse him for his attorneys fees. -R.B.]

Here are copies of the briefs:

Appellant's Brief
Appellees' Brief
Appellant's Reply Brief

The courthouse is at 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan. The proceedings are open to the public.



Keywords: lawyer digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property portable music player

11 comments:

Alter_Fritz said...

does the 2nd circuit provide for those that are interested but cannot be there physicly recordings of the proceedings themself?
a very quick view on their page only revealed that they are OK with cameras (not in pro se/not in criminal cases)[*] and that they make decisions available in PDF format.

Does Courtroom TV provide coverage for the public for free by any chance?

[*] http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/Docs/COAManual/Cameras.pdf

--
A_F

raybeckerman said...

Alter_Fritz, to the best of my knowledge the only way for people not present to have access to the argument is to purchase a transcript later.

If I learn otherwise, I will post it here.

If I obtain a copy of the transcript I will post that as well.

raybeckerman said...

If I learn of Court TV or any other entity televising it I will let you know of course.

raybeckerman said...

I am advised that the Court sells audio recordings for $26. So if I get a copy and can host it somewhere I will.

Anonymous said...

08-5637-cv Kevin Star, et al
v. Sony BMG Music Ent., et al?

Ray, any Idea what this is about?

Alter_Fritz said...

So Mr. Altman,

"Wie ist es gelaufen?"

Jadeic said...

I'm assuming that no news is good news...

Anonymous said...

Jadeic:

I suppose the judges heard what each party had to say and is currently deciding how they will rule. So we don't know if it's good or bad yet.

XYZZY

Richard Altman said...

I would like everyone here to know that I ordered a CD of the oral argument. I should have it in about a week, and I will arrange to have it posted on Ray's blog.

The argument lasted about 35 minutes in all, and I am too close to it to have an opinion as to how it went. It was intense though, as appellate arguments always are, with lots of questions to both sides. Ray was there, though, so he can tell you better than I can....and I wish he would...

It is impossible to know when the decision will come down. Could be weeks or months.

Hope this answers your question, Alter_Fritz...

raybeckerman said...

OK Richard, I wrote a post describing the argument. Let me know if I've made any mistakes in describing it.

Alter_Fritz said...

Thanks Richard and Ray for the updates.

Come again Richard, you said you "ordered a CD"?

Isn't physical medium so 20th century? I guess the judiciary likes it conservatively. ;-)

Or do they not offer patent license fee free FLAC or Ogg Vorbis encoded recordings as digital file so one who is interested in oral arguments does not feel to be totally ripped off given the prize of over $20?

Even "product" from RIAA is cheaper there ;-)

Cheers
Alter Fritz