Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Downloading Music

I purchased a lifetime membership with a company called Kazaa Premium, a service that has purchased music for it's members to share. I'v been a member for at least 5 years now. Recently, I received a letter from my internet company's legal department saying that XYZ law firm has sent in legal documents to have them identify the owner of several IP addresses, one being mine. The Plaintiffs are a group of the most popular record companies in the US.

My question is since I purchased this with a credit card am I protected? In order to accept credit cards a business must be legitimate according to VIsa and Mastercard. Kazaa has said that since people are sharing music, they have no control over people members adding their own music to the population. So a member could potentially and unknowingly download something that was not approved to be shared.

Once my identity is known by the plaintiff what will they do? Do I have a case against Visa and Mastercard.


Asked on 8/08/05, 10:21 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Friedman Law Office of John K. Friedman

Re: Downloading Music

You are being swept up in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in the Grokster case. Essentially P2P services like Kazaa have been forced out from behind protections they thought they had under a decades-old decision concerning video taping (the Sony case). In essence you're being accused (though not formally via a filed civil complaint) of copyright infringement.

You raise a novel issue as to the CC company's obligation to hold you harmless or, alternatively, to be liable to you for putting its stamp of approval on a service that, it turns out, abetted illegal activity. I'm betting not. This is based on my gut but would have to be verified by studying the CC company's terms of use of their card and any ancillary agreements you may have entered into with them.

Essentially, having all the negotiating power in their court, I guess that they've not left themselves open to attack in this manner. Again, however, only a review of the relevant agreements can shed light on this.

If you'd like to discuss this further feel free to call the office at 212.366.1324 (direct line).

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Answered on 8/08/05, 10:37 am


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