[Ecommerce] RIAA v. Verizon

[Manon Anne Ress]

Court upheld the subpoena.

QUOTE:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
IN RE: VERIZON INTERNET )
SERVICES, INC., Subpoena )
Enforcement Matter, )
______________________________ )
) Civil Action 02-MS-0323 (JDB)
RECORDING INDUSTRY )
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, )
)
Plaintiff, )
)
v. )
)
VERIZON INTERNET )
SERVICES, )
)
Defendant. )
______________________________ )
[SNIP]

The Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA")1 has moved to 
enforce a subpoena served on Verizon Internet Services ("Verizon") under 
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 ("DMCA" or "Act"), 17 
U.S.C. § 512. On behalf of copyright owners, RIAA seeks the
identity of an anonymous user of Verizon's service who is alleged to 
have infringed copyrights with respect to more than 600 songs downloaded 
from the Internet in a single day. The copyright owners (and thus RIAA) 
can discern the Internet Protocol address, but not the identity, of the 
alleged infringer -- only the service provider can identify the user. 
Verizon argues that the subpoena relates to material transmitted over 
Verizon's network, not stored on it, and thus falls outside the scope of 
the subpoena power authorized in the DMCA. RIAA counters that the 
subpoena power under section 512(h) of the DMCA applies to all Internet 
service providers, including Verizon, whether the infringing material is 
stored on or simply transmitted over the service provider's network.
The case thus presents a core issue of statutory interpretation relating 
to the scope of the subpoena authority under the DMCA. The parties, and 
several amici curiae, agree that this is an issue of first impression of 
great importance to the application of copyright law to the Internet.
Indeed, they concede that this case is presented as a test case on the 
DMCA subpoena power. Based on the language and structure of the statute, 
as confirmed by the purpose and history of the legislation, the Court 
concludes that the subpoena power in 17 U.S.C. § 512(h) applies to all
Internet service providers within the scope of the DMCA, not just to 
those service providers storing information on a system or network at 
the direction of a user. Therefore, the Court grants RIAA's motion to 
enforce, and orders Verizon to comply with the properly issued and 
supported subpoena from RIAA seeking the identity of the alleged infringer.
END of QUOTE
-- 
Manon Anne Ress
Consumer Project on Technology
www.cptech.org
PO Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
manon.ress@cptech.org, voice: 1.202.387.8030, fax: 1.202.234.5176