RIAA lawsuit against XM radio proceeding

Whaddya make of this?


RIAA Lawsuit Against XM To Proceed

URL: Via Media Post
by Erik Sass, Monday, Jan 22, 2007 7:30 AM ET

TURN UP YOUR DIAL. A U.S. district judge has allowed a major lawsuit brought by the recording industry against XM Satellite Radio to proceed. Judge Deborah A. Batts refused to toss out the case, ruling that the music companies' claims merit a hearing. The lawsuit brought by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) seeks $150,000 from XM for songs downloaded by subscribers using the Pioneer Inno, a combination XM radio and MP3 player that enables users to record songs and play them later. RIAA says the device violates copyright protections.

XM says the allegations are baseless because the device is protected by the Audio Home Recording Act passed in 1992. XM's lawyers argued that the player is no different from combination radio-cassette players that were widely used to record songs from radio airplay.

But Judge Batts dismissed this claim: "It is manifestly apparent that the use of a radio-cassette player to record songs played over free radio does not threaten the market for copyrighted works as does the use of a recorder which stores songs from private radio broadcasts on a subscription-fee basis."

While XM only pays for the right to broadcast music, the storage and playback capabilities of its player make it a de facto music distributor as well, Batts said.


I'm surprised the RIAA didn't seek more than $150,000 in damages, SOBs that they are.

$7.99 a month for a radio station?...sue'em :D

Better switch to Sirius. It's much better anyway. Is XM still playing commercials on their music stations? If so, well there goes the idea of commercial free non stop music.

Anyone that would pay to listen to fuckin radio stations is a nutcase anyway. Except the noobs in here of coarse..

I have Sirius. And honestly, i don't listen to regular radio anymore really. Only when I'm working and can only use my regular radio. But The stations I listen to the most are Howard Stern, Playboy channel, the rock music channels, and the news channels. It's awesome on the music channels because of no commercials and it's uncensored. Everything else has commercials, but hey, still uncensored. I think it's definetly worth it for only 13 bucks a month, but that's just my humble opinion.

Ditto what JahSun said. I love it and have several subscriptions to Sirius.

Anyone that would pay to listen to fuckin radio stations is a nutcase anyway. Except the noobs in here of coarse..

Yeah yeah yeah. I used to have to drive anywhere in a three state radius on 10 minutes notice....satellite radio was my savior when I got it.

Having said that....I've had XM since 2003, and I've owned an Inno since I got my tax return last year. I had many coworkers who had Sirius, as well as many that had XM.

Sirius fans, if your company had the same technology, Sirius'd be on the chopping block, too, so stop with the "you'd be better off with Sirius" bullshit. XM hasn't had commercials on their music stations in quite awhile. The selection is better, the reception is better, and the hardware is light years ahead of anything you've got.

As for the Inno....it's a fucking iPod that gets satellite radio....BIG SHIT.

They've already crippled the FM modulator due to a court order, if this shit keeps up, satellite is going to get dumbed down to terrestrial radio with a better range.

Anyone that would pay to listen to fuckin radio stations is a nutcase anyway. Except the noobs in here of coarse..

I'm a nutcase. I pay less than $0.50 a day and drive about only fourty minutes. In that time how many comercials would I hear? How many times would I have to switch stations or get bored with a CD?

Go Sirius, this thing might just kill XM. They were already looking to merge.