Case Date: Nov. 30, 2007
Facts: Group of record companies brought action against individual alleging copyright infringement. Plaintiffs intend to prove defendant illegally downloaded and shared music using the p2p network Kazaa. Plaintiffs want to use expert testimony from Dr. Doug Jacobsen who holds a Ph.D. in computer engineering who is basing his opinion off of two third party findings: MediaSentry and Verizon Internet Services. Of note, MediaSentry is employed by the RIAA to browse p2p networks like Kazaa and gather evidence. Jacobsen has proof that defendant’s account was used and more than 700 files were downloaded, which Media Sentry then downloaded 11.
Procedural History: Defendant brought motion to exclude expert testimony proffered by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs brought motion to strike affirmative defense of defendant. Motion to exclude testimony is denied and motion to strike defendant’s affirmative defense is granted.
Issue: Whether “expert testimony†as to the theory of how person used Internet anonymously to infringe copyrights of record companies was reliable to be admitted in copyright infringement suit where opinion was based on objective data provided by p2p website investigator.
Holding: Yes. No other method currently exists for conducting the analysis needed in these types of cases that would be better.
Court Reasoning: The expert opinion explaining various technologies used to infringe copyrights of record companies was highly relevant. The expert’s theory of how person used Internet anonymously to infringe copyrights was sufficiently reliable to be admitted and he could testify as to how file sharing worked, how it could be used for infringement purposes, and how it could be linked to user. Finally, the companies did not pool their copyrights for mutual benefit or abuse their combined market power to detriment of copyright consumers.
Facts: Group of record companies brought action against individual alleging copyright infringement. Plaintiffs intend to prove defendant illegally downloaded and shared music using the p2p network Kazaa. Plaintiffs want to use expert testimony from Dr. Doug Jacobsen who holds a Ph.D. in computer engineering who is basing his opinion off of two third party findings: MediaSentry and Verizon Internet Services. Of note, MediaSentry is employed by the RIAA to browse p2p networks like Kazaa and gather evidence. Jacobsen has proof that defendant’s account was used and more than 700 files were downloaded, which Media Sentry then downloaded 11.
Procedural History: Defendant brought motion to exclude expert testimony proffered by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs brought motion to strike affirmative defense of defendant. Motion to exclude testimony is denied and motion to strike defendant’s affirmative defense is granted.
Issue: Whether “expert testimony†as to the theory of how person used Internet anonymously to infringe copyrights of record companies was reliable to be admitted in copyright infringement suit where opinion was based on objective data provided by p2p website investigator.
Holding: Yes. No other method currently exists for conducting the analysis needed in these types of cases that would be better.
Court Reasoning: The expert opinion explaining various technologies used to infringe copyrights of record companies was highly relevant. The expert’s theory of how person used Internet anonymously to infringe copyrights was sufficiently reliable to be admitted and he could testify as to how file sharing worked, how it could be used for infringement purposes, and how it could be linked to user. Finally, the companies did not pool their copyrights for mutual benefit or abuse their combined market power to detriment of copyright consumers.