RIAA is getting desperate: Now suing people ripping their own CDs

Seems like 2008 won't be the year RIAA will get to see the "light".

In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.

"I couldn't believe it when I read that," says Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. "The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation."

Good... now you're alienating everyone actually buying CDs... good move... good move...
Hopefully by 2010, most artists will already be using newer and more appropriate distribution channels, and RIAA will be left defending... oh... there will be no need for RIAA anymore.

via [Washington Post]