RIAA and SDMI said in late April that they never had any intention to sue Felten & co. See their press release, backing away from their earlier stand: http://www.politechbot.com/p-01968.html Verance, also being sued in this new case, never made that same promise. In fact, they declined to answer an invitation to reply on Politech. But if Verance does made that pledge, does this mean EFF's suit would be dismissed? (I am not saying this would be a good thing, since I'd like to see what the courts decide.) My understanding is that the Declaratory Judgment Act only applies to "cases of actual controversy," and if the controversy evaporates, so does the suit. No? More on lawsuit: http://www.politechbot.com/p-02110.html http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=felten -Declan --- http://www.riaa.org/PR_story.cfm?id=419 Statement by RIAA's Cary Sherman on Felten Lawsuit Professor Feltens decision to sue the RIAA and the SDMI Foundation is inexplicable. We have unequivocally and repeatedly stated that we have no intention of bringing a lawsuit against Professor Felten or his colleagues. It seems that the professor, or the Electronic Frontier Foundation, would have preferred that we sue in order to keep their publicity machine running. Since we've said we have no issue with the publication of the Felten paper, they now resort to suing us to keep this issue alive. --- http://www.eff.org/Legal/Cases/Felten_v_RIAA/20010606_eff_felten_riaa_reply.html EFF Reply to RIAA Statement Regarding Felten Case June 6, 2001 The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the plaintiffs have filed Felten v. RIAA because the RIAA threatened the scientific process. RIAA currently claims that they "have no intention of bringing a lawsuit against Professor Felten or his colleagues." However, RIAA attorneys spent nearly a month on the phone threatening litigation against everyone associated with publishing the research paper and demanding changes to the paper. RIAA attorneys only started issuing press statements to the contrary after they succeeded in squelching the scientists. (See the complaint.) Verance has never indicated a willingness to allow publication of the research paper. EFF and the plaintiffs seek not only publication of this research paper without fear of prosecution, but a clear legal determination that no one needs the permission of the record companies before publishing and presenting scientific work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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