BPI Wins Suits Against UK File-Sharers
from the justice-or-just-us dept
The BPI, Britain’s equivalent of the RIAA, has won lawsuits against two file-sharers. One man claimed that he didn’t know what he was doing ran afoul of copyright law, while the other said the BPI had no direct evidence that he’d infringed copyrights — but judges rejected both defenses. The BPI’s embarked on an RIAA-esque legal strategy of suing people, then strong-arming them into settling, and they’re certain to be buoyed by the decision. Given the RIAA’s legal efforts are looking a little less assured, wonder if they’ll start jurisdiction shopping — or trying to, anyway — in cahoots with their international allies?
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It's Mozart's Birthday
One of the first recorded instances of music piracy was the copying of Allegri?s Miserere by Mozart in 1769:
?Young Mozart attended a performance of the celebrated Miserere of Allegri which could be heard only in Rome during Holy Week performed by the papal choir. By papal decree it was forbidden to sing the work elsewhere, and its only existing copy was guarded slavishly by the papal choir. Mozart, however, had heard the work only once when, returning home, he reproduced it in its entirety upon paper.
This mind-boggling task soon became the subject for awed whispers in Rome; it was not long before the Pope himself heard of this amazing achievement. The Pope summoned Mozart, but instead of punishing the young genius with excommunication, he showered praise upon him and gave him handsome gifts. – Music Sharing (PDF)