momditty
October 8th, 2003, 09:10 PM
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October 9, 2003
Technology Briefing: Internet
NEW YORK TIMES
MAN SENTENCED IN MUSIC COPYRIGHT CASE A New York man was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison on copyright infringement charges for selling pirated compact disc compilations over the Internet, prosecutors said. Judge Reggie B. Walton of Federal District Court in Washington also said that Alvin A. Davis of Brooklyn should pay $3,329.50 in restitution and serve a year of supervised probation. He was also barred from using a computer for a year. Mr. Davis's sentence is the first for such an offense, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, which said the "piracy is especially harmful to record stores and other legitimate music retailers." The music industry, in an effort to stem more than three years of falling sales that analysts attribute to piracy and companies' failure to spur demand, has filed hundreds of lawsuits against people who have illegally distributed music files. The suits followed cases against file-sharing services like Napster. The industry is also promoting its own fee-based online services. Mr. Davis, 42, operated www.empirerecords.com, a Web site that is now defunct. The site sold more than 100 different CD and cassette compilations of rap and rhythm and blues music. He was arrested after an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent bought 209 CD's over four months. (Bloomberg News)
October 9, 2003
Technology Briefing: Internet
NEW YORK TIMES
MAN SENTENCED IN MUSIC COPYRIGHT CASE A New York man was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison on copyright infringement charges for selling pirated compact disc compilations over the Internet, prosecutors said. Judge Reggie B. Walton of Federal District Court in Washington also said that Alvin A. Davis of Brooklyn should pay $3,329.50 in restitution and serve a year of supervised probation. He was also barred from using a computer for a year. Mr. Davis's sentence is the first for such an offense, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, which said the "piracy is especially harmful to record stores and other legitimate music retailers." The music industry, in an effort to stem more than three years of falling sales that analysts attribute to piracy and companies' failure to spur demand, has filed hundreds of lawsuits against people who have illegally distributed music files. The suits followed cases against file-sharing services like Napster. The industry is also promoting its own fee-based online services. Mr. Davis, 42, operated www.empirerecords.com, a Web site that is now defunct. The site sold more than 100 different CD and cassette compilations of rap and rhythm and blues music. He was arrested after an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent bought 209 CD's over four months. (Bloomberg News)