RIAA, MPAA and the Justice Department are “like...

RIAA, MPAA and the Justice Department are “like three blind mice,” following one another “in pursuit of meritless copyright claims against Megaupload” and founder Kim “Dotcom” Schmitz, said Ira Rothken, Megaupload counsel, by email. Four record labels (CD April 14 p14 ) and six movie studios (CD April 8 p19) filed civil action lawsuits against Megaupload and its operators last week. The suits are an “assault on cloud storage generally,” as Megaupload “used industry standard copyright-neutral technology found on popular websites like YouTube and Dropbox,” said Rothken. “We believe that the Hollywood Oligopoly is assisting the U.S. Department of Justice in a war of attrition by trying to win the cases on economics, rather than on the merits,” he said. “Like Youtube,” which “had a user rewards program and won its case,” Megaupload, Schmitz, and the other defendants “will prevail,” he said. “The recent release of specific evidence by the DoJ in its criminal complaint against Megaupload that showed massive infringement of music, as well as the statute of limitations, were both factors in our decision to file a civil lawsuit,” said a spokeswoman from RIAA by email.