Especially amusing that the Labels sue in Manhattan... inconveniencing
upstate NY based
AIMSTER...
Especially offensive since AIMSTER doesn't have a central index
Fossils.
Friday May 25 2:07 AM ET
AOL, Record Labels Sue
File-Sharing Aimster
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The entertainment
industry forged ahead in its quest to squash
alleged piracy on the Web on Thursday as major
music companies and several divisions of AOL
Time Warner Inc filed copyright infringement
suits against file-sharing service Aimster.
Both of the suits launched against Aimster on
Thursday were filed in a Manhattan federal court,
with one being lodged on behalf of major record
labels such as Vivendi Universal's Universal
Music, Sony Music, EMI Group Plc (news - web
sites) and Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites)'s
BMG.
Recording industry sources said another lawsuit
was filed against Launch Media Inc targeting the
company's Launchcast service for copyright
violations.
Officials from Launch were not immediately
available for comment late Thursday.
Aimster is a Napster (news - web sites)-like
program that piggybacks on an instant messaging
service run by AOL, the No. 1 Internet services
company.
The second suit against Aimster was filed on
behalf of several divisions of AOL Time Warner,
including Warner Music, New Line Cinema and
Atlantic Records, according to court documents.
Johnny Deep, chief executive officer of Aimster,
said he had not yet seen the legal filings but was
surprised the complaint was filed in Manhattan
since Aimster had filed its own lawsuit against the
recording industry earlier this month in federal
court in Albany, New York.
Sources said AOL Time Warner, home to Warner
Music, chose not to join the recording industry
lawsuit against Aimster because it felt the service
was a threat to content involving a number of its
businesses, including its music and movie
operations, the sources said.
The lawsuits underscore the determination of
Hollywood and the music business to protect
their content in the wake of the big labels' legal
victory in obtaining a court injunction in March
against Napster, which lets users swap songs for
free.
``Aimster is just like Napster. The big difference
between the two is that Aimster also allows you
to get movies, software and pictures,'' said Matt
Oppenheim, senior vice president of business,
legal affairs for the Recording Industry
Association of America (news - web sites)
(RIAA), a music industry trade group.
Oppenheim said the legal action in New York will
seek a Napster-like injunction to bar Aimster
users from trading in copyrighted materials.
MOVIE TRADE GROUP STUDYING
OPTIONS
The Motion Picture Association of America
(MPAA), which has already joined forces with the
music industry in another lawsuit against
file-sharing community Scour Inc., said it was
considering its options.
``We are aware of Aimster and we're looking at
all available options,'' said a spokeswoman for the
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
In its suit against the recording industry, Aimster
earlier this month asked a federal court in Albany
for a declaratory judgement stating it was not
infringing on copyrights. Aimster filed the suit
because it had received a ``cease and desist'' letter
from the RIAA.
Oppenheim said the RIAA tried to meet with
Aimster, but that Aimster had canceled several
times.
``We wanted to sit down with Aimster and try to
come up with a resolution of this matter without
litigation,'' Oppenheim said.
``The courts have already made clear that this kind
of service will not be tolerated. The fact that
Aimster canceled meetings with us and then filed
a lawsuit was very disappointing,'' Oppenheim
said.
Aimster has hired the law firm of Boies, Schiller
and Flexner, headed by top lawyer David Boies,
who is representing Napster in its case.
Deep has contended any attempt to monitor
Aimster's 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 is better insulated from
lawsuits than a fully open file-swapping service
like Napster, because users have more control
over files since they share only with people
designated on instant messaging ``buddy lists.''
But Oppenheim said this was false. ``The service
that Aimster provides is exactly the same as
Napster, contrary to what they have been saying.''
``Aimster users do not need to have 'buddies' in
order to download content. Just like Napster, you
can use a centralized index to obtain any content
you want,'' he said.
Deep said if people trade with others who are not
``buddies'' they are violating the terms of Aimster,
but then added the company was unable to control
its users' activities.
``It's like the post office. They frown on people
spamming strangers with junk mail, but they
cannot do anything to prevent it,'' Deep said.
Earlier this week, Aimster said it would appeal a
National Arbitration
Forum panel decision ordering it to give up its domain
names to AOL
Time Warner after finding they violated AOL's trademark
on its instant
messenger service, which goes by the acronym AIM.
