Monday June 25 3:07 PM ET
Judge Denies Music Industry Motion Vs Aimster
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal judge has denied a motion by the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) (RIAA) and 17 companies to dismiss a lawsuit filed against them in an upstate New York court by file-sharing company Aimster, a recording industry lawyer said on Monday.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn on Friday refused to throw out a suit by Aimster against the major record companies. He also refused to transfer it to Manhattan, where 36 companies filed two subsequent copyright-infringement suits against Aimster.
In the lawsuit filed in U.S. Northern District Court in Albany, New York, Aimster is seeking a declaratory judgement that it does not violate recording copyrights by allowing music files to be shared over the Internet.
``We see this as a very important victory that allows us to continue this fight in a fair forum without being disadvantaged by the unlimited resources of very large companies,'' said Aimster Chief Executive Johnny Deep.
Aimster has hired David Boies, the top gun lawyer who has been representing leading music-swap service Napster (news - web sites) in its landmark copyright suit, and is seeking to have all the cases consolidated in Albany.
``It is our view that copyright holders should be permitted to determine where the case should proceed,'' said Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business, legal affairs for the RIAA. ``Regardless wherever this is litigated, we're confident these holders' rights will be affirmed,'' he said.
Aimster has contended any attempt to monitor its members would itself be a violation of federal copyright law and users' privacy since it has encrypted transmissions on its network.
He has said Aimster, a Napster-like program, is better insulated from lawsuits than a fully open file-swapping services like Napster because users have more control over files as they share only with people designated on instant messaging ``buddy lists.''
But Oppenheim said this was false and that Aimster is much like Napster. Earlier Monday, Napster was denied its request for a rehearing of the RIAA's lawsuit, which resulted in a crippling injunction against the company.
The number of users using Napster has sharply declined as the company is complying with the injunction issued on March 5, barring it from offering copyrighted songs on its service.
The world's biggest record labels -- including Vivendi Universal's (EAUG.PA) Universal Music, Sony Music (6758.T), Warner Music (NYSE:AOL - news), EMI Group Plc (news - web sites) (EMI.L) and Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites)'s (BTGGga.D) BMG first sued Napster in December 1999, claiming it was a haven for copyright piracy that would cost them billions of dollars in lost music sales.
Following their victory against Napster, the labels have vigorously pursued several copyright lawsuits against other online companies, including Aimster.
But Deep is optimistic his company's fate will be different. ``It's a whole new ball game on the east coast,'' Deep said on Monday. ``Its a war but it's a different war,'' he said.
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