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Elektra v. Santangelo (2005) is a case being heard before the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, filed by Elektra Entertainment Group as one of approximately 13,000 lawsuits that the RIAA has brought against individual defendants in the US. The suit alleges that Patricia Santangelo, a single mother of five based in Wappingers Falls, NY, infringed the copyright of several companies by sharing six songs on the KaZaA file-sharing network. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction is comprised of the following counties: New York, Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. ...
Elektra Records is a record label started in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickholt, who both invested $300. ...
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a special interest group representing the U.S. recording industry, and the body responsible for certifying gold and platinum albums and singles in the USA. For more information about sales data see list of best selling albums and list of best selling...
Wappingers Falls is a village located in Dutchess County, New York. ...
Kazaa Media Desktop (once capitalized as KaZaA, but now usually left as Kazaa) is a controversial peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol. ...
Background
Elektra offered to settle the case for $7,500, but Mrs. Santangelo rejected the offer. She says that she didn't realize that her computer contained KaZaa software, and that the KaZaa account name listed in the suit belongs to a friend of one of her children. A settlement is a contract that is one possible result when parties sue (or contemplate so doing) each other in civil courts, usually seeking money as reparations for the alleged wrongdoing of the defendants. ...
One frequently cited criticism of the RIAA's lawsuits is that they use an assembly line approach to lawsuits, trying to get the same result in every case no matter the evidence, trying to carry out the lawsuits and settlements in the most efficient way, and acting as if lawsuits are a standard part of business. This case is somewhat notable because the judge, the honorable Colleen McMahon, appears to agree with some of those criticisms: [1] An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which interchangeable parts are added to a product in a sequential manner to create an end product. ...
- THE COURT: "Well, I think it would be a really good idea for you to get a lawyer, because I would love to see a mom fighting one of these."
- MR. MASCHIO: "I'll give her my card, but our instructions are for these people to deal with the conference settlement center. They had discussions."
- THE COURT: "I'm sorry. Your instructions from me, the Judge are that, if she appears with a lawyer, her lawyer will deal with you."
- MR. MASCHIO: "No, all I was suggesting, your Honor, is that, if she doesn't come with an attorney, that the more direct way of doing this — and this is just to facilitate things — is to deal directly with the conference center."
- THE COURT: "Not once you've filed an action in my court. ... You file an action in my court, your conference center is out of it. They have nothing to do with anything. ... You're taking up my time and cluttering up my calendar, so you will do it in the context of the Court. ... And if your people want things to be done through the conference center, tell them not to bring lawsuits."
Mrs. Santangelo originally appeared in court without a lawyer. She was later represented by Ray Beckerman of Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP; but, unable to afford mounting legal bills, she was again representing herself as of December 2005. After review, her former lawyer commented "I'm sure she's going to win. I don't see how they could win. They have no case. They have no evidence she ever did anything." [2] Pro se is a Latin adjective meaning for self, that is applied to someone who represents themselves without a lawyer in a court proceeding, whether as a defendant or a plaintiff and whether the matter is civil or criminal. ...
During the procedings for their Motion to Dismiss, there was evidence that the RIAA may be using a minimum of legal talent required to reach a settlement. According to Ray Beckerman: [3]
- "I would say that asking for a second oral argument is unusual, because (a) in almost 31 years of working in litigation I’ve never heard of anyone doing it, and (b) the very asking for it is an admission that the first oral argument was lost."
Current status A motion to dismiss has been filed, stating that "the Courts have consistently required specific acts of copying, and the dates and times of those acts", and the complainant isn't providing those. The plaintiff's response is that the specific files were listed, and that specific times of violations aren't needed, because there is "an ongoing and continuous infringement". This is in conflict with Mrs. Santangelo's statements on the record that the computer's disk has been reformatted because of "a lot of major viruses", and that her ex-husband is now in possession of the computer. [4] RIAA then made the unusual request to have a second oral argument session and to submit an additional surreply. [5] The motion to dismiss the case was denied on 28 November, 2005. A copy of the decision can be viewed here, as well as Mrs. Santangelo's response to the complaints, from her legal defense.
See also The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is the trade group that represents the U.S. recording industry. ...
File sharing is the activity of making files available to other users for download over the Internet, but also over smaller networks. ...
David Zamos was a student at Kent State and the University of Akron when he became an international news story for counter-suing Microsoft Corp. ...
External links and sources MP3 Newswire is one of the earliest news sites focused on digital media technology. ...
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