ReDigi wins initial injunction case

ReDigi, a company that wants to sell 'used' digital music, has successfully dodged a preliminary injunction filed by EMI last month. Capitol Records, who owns EMI, argued that the service would infringe copyrights as there would be no guarantee that the seller would delete the copy of the digital track being sold. The US district judge in charge of the case, Richard Sullivan, ruled (PDF) for ReDigi, but did state the case raised a number of technological and statutory issues.

Google backed ReDigi's notion and offered a look at all the issues with the scheme, but the judge didn't allow it to participate in the case. The legal battle will no doubt continue in courts, with issues to be resolved likely to involve defining copies as they relate to a copyright violation, the lack of a public performance in sending copies and any liability from
Internet providers. There is also the issue of the first sale, which states money can only be collected from the original sale, and which EMI didn't mention in its original complaint.

The concept of used media has mostly fallen by the wayside in digital, both out of the concept of perfect replicas as well as the ease of getting what a listener wants. Albums often cost half as much as they did in the physical-only era, and listeners can buy only the one or two songs they want, with samples in advance, rather than having to sometimes take a guess on the experience. [via Hollywood Reporter]

By Electronista Staff