Federal Judge Dismisses Professor's Lawsuit Against RIAA

Princeton University professor Edward Felten, who charged that the Recording Industry Association of America used threats of lawsuits to keep him from telling the world how his research hacked through digital security measures, has lost in court. A federal judge in New Jersey dismissed Felten's suit against the RIAA, ruling from the bench that the professor had no legal complaint against the group.

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A Princeton University professor who feared strong-arm legal tactics would keep him from telling the world how his research hacked through digital security measures has lost in court. Edward Felten sued the Recording Industry Association of America, charging that the group used threats of lawsuits to stop him from presenting his work at academic conferences. U.S. District Court Judge Garrett E. Brown for the District of New Jersey dismissed Felten’s lawsuit, ruling from the bench that the professor had no legal complaint against the RIAA. “We are happy that the court recognized what we have been saying all along: there is no dispute here. As we have said time and again, Professor Felten is free to publish his findings,” Cary Sherman, the RIAA’s senior executive vice president, said in a statement. Felten, on leave from Princeton and now at Stanford University, did not return messages seeking comment Wednesday. Lawyers for the Electronic Frontier Foundation joined Felten in a fight to overturn a 1998 federal law that makes discussion of methods for circumventing copy-protection technology illegal. They plan to appeal Brown’s ruling. “The judge essentially took the position, well, they didn’t sue you so what do you care,” said Cindy Cohn, the group’s legal director. Brown ignored evidence that showed Felten and other researchers were being cowered by legal threats from the RIAA, Cohn said. Graduate students working with him have their projects on hold and another scientist has delayed publishing a book about the findings, Cohn said. After accepting a challenge from a coalition of music, telecommunications and consumer electronic companies to crack its codes, Felten said his team had done just that. He and his researchers disabled five of six security technologies, known as watermarks, and Felten planned to detail that research at a conference in April. The professor called off his talk after legal threats from a lawyer with the RIAA. Officials later said they never intended to sue. “Felten did what they asked because he was scared. Their threat was successful,” Cohn said. In June, the RIAA again said it would not sue Felten when he announced plans to present his findings at a different conference, the Usenix Security Symposium in Washington, D.C. That amounted to special permission from the RIAA for Felten to speak openly, Cohn charged. “But that special protection was only for that conference. So he’s left in the position that next time he wants to talk he has to ask permission,” Cohn said. The government has used the 1998 law to charge a Russian computer programmer with circumventing U.S. copyright protections on electronic-book software made by Adobe Systems. In June, Felten petitioned the U.S. District Court in New Jersey for a clarification on whether discussing research like his constitute free speech exempt from the 1998 law. Felten’s June lawsuit asked the court to overturn parts of the law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, to prevent civil and criminal action against any researchers who may publicize copy protection technologies and their weaknesses. Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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