Many were surpised when Judge Jed S. Rakoff made his decision without a written opinion over a week ago, leaving the legal grounds for the ruling open to speculation.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) brought the action on behalf of the companies, seeking as much as US$6 billion in damages. MP3 technology enables the conversion of compact disc recordings into downloadable files.
In January, MP3.com launched a service called MyMP3.com. The company built up a library of popular CDs, copied them onto a server accessible from its web site and invited subscibers to customise and download the music files from any location. In an attempt to avoid copyright infringement, subscribers were required to either demonstrate that they already owned any of the CDs from which they wanted to download MP3 format tracks or purchase the CDs from an on-line retailer co-operating with MP3.com.
However, the precautions were insufficient. Judge Jed S. Rakoff commented that, while MP3.com "seeks to portray its service as the functional equivalent of storing its subscribers' CDs", it is in fact replaying for the subscribers converted versions of the recordings it copied, without authorisation, from copyrighted CDs.
MP3.com had attempted to argue that its copying service was "fair use," a defence under the relevant US legislation. However, Judge Rakoff said that any claim of fair use was negated by, among other factors, the sheer volume of copying.
He went on to dismiss the company's argument that its service to consumers would otherwise be provided by pirates. "Copyright," said Judge Rakoff, "is not designed to afford consumer protection or convenience, but, rather, to protect the copyright holders' property interests."