R&B INTERNET COPYRIGHT SUIT BACK ON!

A class-action copyright infringement suit filed two years ago by members of The Chambers Brothers, the Coasters and the Original Drifters has been reinstated by the U.S. 2^nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. The suit claims that AOL Time Warner, Sony, Bertelsmann and Vivendi’s Universal Music Group and MP3.com do not have the right to transmit the artists’ recordings made before 1996 over the Internet.

U.S. District Judge Jed "Screw MP3.com" Rakoff dismissed the suit in December 2000 after finding that the artists’ contracts gave the labels rights to transmit digital versions of their songs. However, the three-judge appeals panel found that Judge Rakoff considered materials that were not entered into the record when making his decision and has sent the case back to Rakoff’s court.

The artists maintain that their contracts did not give the labels rights to sell their songs online and insist they have been damaged by the labels doing so anyway, because file-swapping and other means of digitally copying their songs has reduced sales of their songs, and therefore their artist royalties.

Meanwhile, we’re pretty sure any court of law would frown upon what we’ve been doing "Under the Boardwalk."