RIAA Wins By Default

A U.S. federal judge recently ordered 20-year old Michelle Santangelo, the daughter of the well-known music-downloading defendant, Patricia Santangelo, to pay a default judgment of $30,750.00. The judgment followed Michelle Santangelo’s failure to formally respond to claims made by the U.S. recording industry that she had illegally downloaded 41 copyrighted songs. In 2005, five record companies unsuccessfully sued Patricia Santangelo, who argued that she had never downloaded music, and that file-sharing programs were to blame if any illegal downloading had occurred among her five children. The record companies eventually dropped their case against Patricia, but vowed to continue their legal crusade against Michelle Santangelo and Patricia’s 16 year-old son, Robert Santangelo. No default judgment has been filed against Robert. This case is one of the more than 18,000 piracy lawsuits that have been filed in U.S. federal courts, many of which have been settled against minors.

This entry first appeared in the January 25, 2007 edition of lawsof.com. For additional information, click here.

UK's New E-Communication Rules

The United Kingdom has recently introduced new communication requirements under the Companies Act 2006 (the "Act"), a law governing company registration matters in the UK. The changes reflect the ever-increasing use of information technology and electronic communications among businesses. Specifically, under the Act and accompanying regulations the registrar of companies, whose main function is to incorporate and dissolve limited companies, examine and store company information, and disclose such information to the public, must: (i) allow companies to electronically file all "basic documents" (defined in Article 2 of the First Council Directive 68/151/EEC); (ii) allow for the electronic inspection of such documents; (iii) offer electronic copies of such documents to those inspecting the register; and (iv) keep all such documents in electronic form, whether submitted electronically or in paper form. EU member states will further be allowed to use an electronic alternative to the publication of documents in UK's national gazette. The Act also requires that a company's emails, online order forms, and websites include: (i) its name, place of registration and registration number; (ii) the address of its registered office; and (iii) whether it is an "investment" company or "limited" company, if either. Companies face possible fines if they are found to be in breach of provisions of the Act.

This entry first appeared in the January 11, 2007 edition of lawsof.com. For a copy of the UK Department of Trade and Industry's briefing on the changes, click here. For a copy of the First Council Directive 68/151/EEC, click here.