Verizon wins in RIAA subpoena case
A very interesting development
in the digital music crisis. The US Court of Appeals for the DC
Circuit holds: “Because we agree
with Verizon’s interpretation of the statute [the DMCA Section 512], we
reverse the
orders of the district court enforcing the subpoenas and do not reach
either of Verizon’s constitutional arguments.” Verizon’s
argument, in the court’s terms: the DMCA’s “§ 512(h) does not authorize
the issuance of a subpoena to an ISP acting solely as a conduit for
communications the content of which is determined by others.” Add
this
development to the Grokster opinion, and the trend of the law in favor
of digital rights holders is at least in a holding pattern.
