Digital Music Seller ReDigi Not to Be Shut Down, Judge Rules

February 9, 2012 by Yonah
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Entertainment Industry

Recording industry’s motion for a preliminary injunction gets ditched

Last year we reported the launch of ReDigi, the world’s first online seller of used digital music, and, of course, the copyright issues that the service stepped right into as soon as the record industry found out about it.

However, the latest news tell the story of a victorious ReDigi against Capitol Records who had accused the service of being “clearinghouse for copyright infringement” because it allows users to purchase and sell music previously bought on iTunes. A copy of the victorious brief on the opposition to the preliminary injunction motion filed two weeks ago is available here.

ReDigi held up the argument of the “first sale doctrine” which gives it the right to resell digital music while the record label claimed that the only way to move music around was to make copies upon copies without knowing for certain that originals were being removed.

Google kind of allied with ReDigi in proving why the lawsuit the music industry filed against the service is not healthy for the online business.

While U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan initially dismissed Google’s efforts to meddle in the case, he finally had to admit that a decision favorable to Capitol Records in this case that “raises a lot of technological and statutory issues” could create a dangerous ground for the future.

The forthcoming case presents some mighty important aspects that would interest not only the entertainment industry and newly emerged business models but also media giants and the music consumers altogether. Some of these aspects are the notion of a “copy” in relation to copyright purposes, how first sale doctrine applies and whether there’s “public” performance in transmission of copies.

Stay tuned.