XM Sued by Labels Over Inno

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

It must be lawsuit week. Much as in my article about Creative suing Apple, I would tend to say, “It took them long enough.” The Inno was announced in January of this year. Since then, I had been anticipating such a suit, and yesterday the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) filed a lawsuit against XM Satellite in N.Y. federal court.

The suit accuses XM Satellite of “massive wholesale infringement,” and seeks $150,000 in damages for every song copied by XM customers using the devices, which went on sale earlier this month. XM, with more than 6.5 million subscribers, said it plays 160,000 different songs every month.

While the labels are asserting the device has transformed radio broadcasts into a download service, XM said the device does not allow consumers to transfer recorded content. Source: Reuters

We Say: I’m not sure why the Helix was not mentioned also, as the differences between the two devices are minor (see my earlier post) and really center around the manufacturers (Samsung for Helix, Pioneer for Inno). As XM states in the story, this seems most likely a bargaining tactic. Sirius earlier this spring came to an agreement with labels over its S50 portable satellite receivers that double as MP3 players.

Personally, although the technology is obviously superior, to me this is no different than the low tech “recording radio onto audio tape” that had been done for decades, with nary a peep from RIAA, prior to MP3 players. This type of lawsuit really irks me.