The Recording Industry Association of America[wiki] had a lawsuit against a Larry Scantlebury of Michigan for illegally downloading music over the net. Apparently, the actual offender was his stepson, but, naturally, the lawsuit came against Larry. This sounds like a common story that we’ve heard before in the news.
What’s unusual is that Larry passed away in June. Did the RIAA drop the case? Nope.
The RIAA represents Warner Bros. Records, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, UMG Recordings, BMG Music, Arista Records LLC, Capitol Records, Inc., and Atlantic Recording Corporation all of whom brought suit against Larry. The lawyer representing the RIAA is Matthew E. Krichbaum of law firm Soble Rowe Krichbaum LLP (although I’m not sure if he’ll answer, he can be reached at matthew@srkllp.com in case you want to ask him questions about the case). […]
Getting back to, Mr. Scantlebury, apparently, his death isn’t enough for the RIAA to take its business elsewhere. No, Krichbaum has already invested time and resources into this case and so now, he must still bring it across the finish line. So, in pursuit of a settlement with our war heroe’s estate, Krichbaum has made a motion to allow Larry’s family 60 days to grieve after which time they’ll have to give depositions. [zdnet]
Two months and then his family was under the gun by the RIAA to pay up on the settlement. Incredibly cold hearted, yes. There is something to be said about how the legal system works in events like this, but compassion is not apart of the equation here. Deaths in the family take a toll on emotions and finances, so even a year or two could have been more appropriate if they were that hellbent on seeing the case through.
Now that this story has circled the news outlets and blogs, the RIAA is doing some clean up to their image of being a heartless beast of control. They dropped the case.
Our hearts go out to the Scantleberry family for their loss. We had decided to temporarily suspend the productive settlement discussions we were having with the family. Mr. Scantleberry had admitted that the infringer was his stepson, and we were in the process settling with him shortly before his passing. Out of an abundance of sensitivity, we have elected to drop this particular case. [boingboing]
Aside from misspelling Scantlebury’s name, the RIAA is showing some heart and a swift CYA move in the public relations department. Maybe the spelling issue actually shows some human element, but they’re far from able to demonstrate a sense of humor. Cory Doctorow lays it out pretty well on the same post over at BoingBoing.
This is reminiscent of the RIAA’s approach to things like YouTube lipsynch videos: “our songs are released to be listened to and nothing more; should you dare to make them part of your life, we will use the copyright law we bought to break you.” [boingboing]