A New Jersey woman she sued the Recording Industry Association of America in federal court this week for extortion and violations of the federal anti-racketeering act, in what observers call a somewhat novel tack to take in countering the RIAA's war against peer-to-peer file swappers.
Michele Scimeca says suing peer-to-peer music file swappers for infringement and then offering to settle rather than pursue equals violating laws usually applied to organized crime. "This scare tactic has caused a vast amount of settlements from individuals who feared fighting such a large institution and feel victim to these actions and felt forced to provide funds to settle these actions instead of fighting," wrote Michele Scimeca's attorney, Bart Lombardo, in New Jersey-filed federal court documents obtained by CNET. "These types of scare tactics are not permissible and amount to extortion."
And Scimeca isn't alone, CNET added: She's one of a growing number fighting the RIAA's subpoena-and-sue strategy, "although few have used such creative legal strategies" as hitting through federal organized crime statutes.
The Scimeca filing came after the RIAA announced a new round of suits against 531 individuals, saying also that "a handful" have countersued on varied claims. "If someone prefers not to settle, they of course have the opportunity to raise their objections in court," an unnamed RIAA representative told CNET. "We stand by our claims."
One of the most prominent counteractions against the RIAA has been "Nycfashiongirl," whom CNET says beat an RIAA bid to force her to reveal her identity, after a Washington, D.C. court held the RIAA's initial subpoena process for going after Internet service provider subscribers' identities before filing suits was illegal. The RIAA subsequently quit trying to gain "Nycfashiongirl"'s identity, CNET said.
But the Electronic Frontier Foundation said that user's Internet address was included in the lawsuits filed by the RIAA Feb. 17, meaning she could still end up back in court.
Another counterattacker has been Raymond Maalouf, whose daughters used KaZaA to download music, one of whom even turned up in Pepsi's noted promotion for iTunes Music Store during the Super Bowl telecast. Maalouf has filed documents noting that one daughter's school discussed online file swapping and downloaded songs used in classes in that regard, CNET said, which his attorneys argue should be protected fair use.
The EFF thinks Scimeca's racketeering countersuit might be a longshot at best. "It is the first I've heard of anyone attempting that," legal director Cindy Cohn told CNET. "I guess that is a silver lining of the fact that the RIAA is suing so many people, that there are a lot of lawyers trying to figure out ways to protect folks."
