August 15th, 2006
RIAA Drops “Beyond the Grave” Lawsuit
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
As I wrote a few days ago, in the case of Warner Bros vs. Scantlebury, the RIAA had elected to pursue the case despite the passing of Larry Scantlebury. However, they decided to give the family 60 days to grieve before deposing them (yep, there’s a lotta sensitivity there). In a “stunning” reversal (most likely due to all the negative press), the RIAA has decided to drop the case.
A number of large news sites and blogs had picked up on this story, including RTN, and apparently that caused the RIAA to relent. Today, in fact, Boing Boing received an email from an RIAA spokesperson, Jonathan Lamy, regarding the issue.
Our hearts go out to the Scantleberry family for their loss. We had decided to temporarily suspend the productive settlement discussions we were having with the family. Mr. Scantleberry had admitted that the infringer was his stepson, and we were in the process settling with him shortly before his passing. Out of an abundance of sensitivity, we have elected to drop this particular case. Source: Boing Boing
We Say: My guess is the sensitivity meter goes way up when large news outlets start broadcasting your actions.
Dave Barnes says:
The RIAA said in their press release: “Mr. Scantleberry had admitted that the infringer was his stepson, and we were in the process settling with him shortly before his passing”.
Or, “We were right in trying to crush this guy and his death got in the way.”
August 15th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
Steve R says:
As someone on Slashdot cleverly observed, the whole point of these lawsuits is publicity.
From that point of view, announcing that you plan to pursue a dead guy (and getting a wave of negative “the RIAA is mean” publicity, is good.
Following it by another “okay we won’t pursue the dead guy, just this once” publicity is even better.
Both were smart moves. Simply droppping the suit cause the guy died would have been a waste of good free publicity potential.
August 16th, 2006 at 2:01 am
Dick C. Flatline says:
You know, I’ve maintained for a long time that there’s nothing inherently wrong with serial killers, it’s just that they tend to go after women, kids, etc. If we could just train them to only stalk lawyers….
April 25th, 2008 at 12:24 pm