Elvis Costello is a gangster. So are The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Cyndi Lauper is a gangster. Alvin, Simon and Theodore (A.K.A. The Chipmunks) are gangsters. Screamin' Jay Hawkins, 'N Sync, Kansas, Genesis and the Blind Boys of Alabama are all gangsters.
The Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization statute originally developed to prosecute mob bosses has been given new life in recent years as a catchall annoyance buster, used not just for the Mafia but for loosely construed criminals, like Pro-Life protesters, as well. Now, the Recording Industry Association of America will defend themselves in court in a lawsuit alleging that they violated the statute.
Affectionately called the RICO act, the law is broken anytime an organization conspires to extort money. When hoodlums run protection rackets, they break the law. The pro-life protesters brought down in Chicago were found to have threatened violence towards customers thus costing the abortion clinic money.
So what of an organization threatening legal action against a large group of people for a crime the organization claim they commit? Even now, with stricter judicial rulings no longer allowing the RIAA to match up IP addresses of copyright infringers with their names, the association continues to sue 'John Doe's.' The RIAA allegedly dressed in police uniforms to intimidate a California man. Are they guilty of intimidating a large group of people into paying them settlements?
Michelle Scimeca says they do. The New Jersey Star Ledger reports that Scimeca, mother of a girl whose school project on copyright infringement resulted in a RIAA letter threatening a lawsuit, has taken the RIAA to court and sued the organization under the RICO statute.
\They're banding together to extort money, telling people they're guilty and they will have to pay big bucks to defend their cases if they don't pony up now. It is fundamentally not fair,"" Scimeca's lawyer, Bart Lombardo, told the Times Ledger.
Will this work? Probably not. Direct TV was sued in the same manner when they threatened people they suspected of using their service without paying. That suit failed. Most experts expect the Scimeca suit to quickly be thrown out of court. But it is still interesting that a New Jersey mother is the first on the offensive against the RIAA.
at jhuchill@wisc.edu
