UMS student take RIAA suit to court
Jess Fish
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: News
Ten students in the University of Maine system have decided to take the RIAA's accusations of illegal file-sharing to court. What makes their case groundbreaking is that two of these students are being backed by a university program.
The Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic has agreed to represent two students as part of its discounted program for clients who cannot afford legal representation. The clinic is a part of the University of Maine School of Law and trains third-years as student attorneys. Hannah Ames and Lisa Chmelecki will represent the two defendants under the supervision of clinic director Dierdre Smith.
The other eight students have collectively hired Bob Mittel, an attorney at the Mittel-Asen law firm in Portland, to represent them.
Smith said that the complaint filed by the RIAA against students is "incredibly broad and general, with no specific allegations." In these types of cases, the prosecutor must have enough plausible cause or concrete facts to press their lawsuit.
According to Smith, the RIAA does not have the names of students that they are alleging illegally downloaded music. They only have IP addresses and are suing "John Does" when they send letters. Under education privacy laws, the university is responsible for distributing them and notifying the specific students of the RIAA's actions against them.
Kyle Kernan, a UMaine student, received notification of the RIAA's allegation through the IT center and at first dismissed it as a hoax. He described his notification as "riddled with ambiguity" and said it did not state his name.
This is the situation for most students being sued by the RIAA. Smith said the accusations generally contain a lot of "boilerplate," or standardized language and do not specifically state why the students are being sued.
If the court agrees with her stance, all the charges could be dismissed. However, the process can be lengthy, and a verdict may not be reached for several months.
The Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic has agreed to represent two students as part of its discounted program for clients who cannot afford legal representation. The clinic is a part of the University of Maine School of Law and trains third-years as student attorneys. Hannah Ames and Lisa Chmelecki will represent the two defendants under the supervision of clinic director Dierdre Smith.
The other eight students have collectively hired Bob Mittel, an attorney at the Mittel-Asen law firm in Portland, to represent them.
Smith said that the complaint filed by the RIAA against students is "incredibly broad and general, with no specific allegations." In these types of cases, the prosecutor must have enough plausible cause or concrete facts to press their lawsuit.
According to Smith, the RIAA does not have the names of students that they are alleging illegally downloaded music. They only have IP addresses and are suing "John Does" when they send letters. Under education privacy laws, the university is responsible for distributing them and notifying the specific students of the RIAA's actions against them.
Kyle Kernan, a UMaine student, received notification of the RIAA's allegation through the IT center and at first dismissed it as a hoax. He described his notification as "riddled with ambiguity" and said it did not state his name.
This is the situation for most students being sued by the RIAA. Smith said the accusations generally contain a lot of "boilerplate," or standardized language and do not specifically state why the students are being sued.
If the court agrees with her stance, all the charges could be dismissed. However, the process can be lengthy, and a verdict may not be reached for several months.
Be the first to comment on this story