RedRobin wrote:....At the moment I'm not entirely convinced that your linked example of the sharing games case is sufficiently close enough to the subject of my thread - A mix of two music recordings (one of which is wholly mine). Please understand that I am grateful for your input and I am not rejecting your much valued advice.
The point to be made is that claiming that you do not profit from the sharing of "Another's" music does not defend you against a claim for damages. Putting a song online, in any form, is distribution. The particular type of technology used (P2P, FTP, HTTP, streaming, video...) does not matter. The issue is "making available to the public" in an unauthorised manner.
The case you refer to, as I understand it, involves P2P (peer to peer) file sharing. In my instance no files are being physically shared in the way that interactive games are. Or would you argue that uploading any music file to social media such as Facebook is P2P sharing, even if they are not downloadable?
Any file on the internet is downloadable if you can access it in a browser - and it doesn't take much knowledge/skill to figure that out. But, as above, the issue in general is not about the particular methodology of distribution, it is about distribution full stop.
I think I'm correct in saying that most courts view the non-appearance of a defendant as showing a degree of contempt and so tend to dish out more severe penalties. Also, the court can only respond to the case put before it and if that is all one-sided for the prosecution, then the outcome is bound to reflect that.
It is possible that some mitigation could have been put forward in this case, or indeed that the defence could have been victorious (given the issue of identifying the actual person distributing the files). But the claimant was obviously legally represented, and would have had a solid case for claiming damages - the judge's hands would have been pretty much tied in terms of what damages were awarded.
Even if the damages had been assessed at the retail price of one copy of the video game, there would still have been the costs to factor in - £10,000.
Seemingly solid prosecution cases have been lost due to the prosecution not bothering to attend court.
The real question is whether any solid defences have been lost due to the defendant not turning up?
Perhaps my confession of involvement is rather naive - It has only been my intention to pay homage to the mixed song and publicly give credit where it's due.
The legal penalty lies with the person distributing the results. If that's you, or another, or "Another", then that's where the problem falls.
Everyone I know simply uploads or shares DJ and other Sets of music via social media as if the internet was one giant radio station for anyone to enjoy. They tend to be ignorant of any copyright laws. In fact I already occasionally post a link to some of my favourite YouTube music videos on my Facebook page - Is that illegal?
I think we all know that ignorance of the law is not a defence, so I'm not really going to address that.
As far as I know posting links to material, distributed without authorisation, is not something that a UK court will take action over. But I believe that criminal statutes are in place to address this issue in the USA and I think we also know that prosecutors in the USA are quite ready to extend their territorial reach where there is seemingly little connection with the USA.
In an ideal world, music would always be free and not subject to complex laws of copyrights etc etc etc!
Well, that's certainly one philosophical position to take. Unfortunately for you the philosophers have been debating that issue for a few hundred years and they have a different answer.
I'd personally question whether that really would be an ideal world - it would seem to preclude anyone ever making a living from the creation of music, and consequently have a negative effect on both the quality and quantity of music available to the public.
But I certainly would not wish to prevent anyone giving away music that they have composed and performed, if that's their choice.