[JStella]

Originally Posted by Dano

and I don't know the full particulars of the case, but the defendant did two things, "... once Defendant converted Plaintiffs’ recording into the compressed .mp3 format and they are in his shared folder, they are no longer the authorized copies distributed by Plaintiffs." He made the copies, AND he put them into his shared folder. Perhaps the copying was OK, by the Fair Use doctrine, but maybe they're assuming that since he put the files into the "shared folder," he was planning to make them available to others. If he had put them into a folder labeled "secret stuff -- don't look" with pictures of skulls and crossbones, mebbe he'd be OK. Fair Use is well-established, so it'll be interesting to see where in fact the plaintiff's arguments come from.

Indeed. The brief was filed on the specific question of whether the converted files were themselves unauthorized. The plaintiffs describe the files themselves as unauthorized - not the action of placing them in the folder. I think they are trying to sneak one past the judge here. Hopefully he'll catch it.

- Josh