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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>JUDGE: LAW COULD NOT STAND BECAUSE IT PLACES NO TIME LIMIT ON THE BAN <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>By Erin McClam <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Associated Press <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>NEW YORK - A federal judge Friday struck down a 1994 law banning the <br>
sale of <b><font color=black><span style='color:black;background:#FFFF66;
font-weight:bold'>bootleg</span></font></b> recordings of live music, ruling
the law unfairly <br>
grants ``seemingly perpetual protection'' to the original performances. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. dismissed a federal indictment of <br>
Jean Martignon, who runs a <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Manhattan</st1:place></st1:City>
mail-order and Internet business <br>
that sells <b><font color=black><span style='color:black;background:#FFFF66;
font-weight:bold'>bootleg</span></font></b> recordings. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Baer found the <b><font color=black><span style='color:black;
background:#FFFF66;font-weight:bold'>bootleg</span></font></b> law was written
by Congress in the spirit of <br>
federal copyright law, which protects writing for a fixed period of <br>
time -- typically for the life of the author and 70 years after the <br>
author's death. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>But the judge said the <b><font color=black><span style='color:black;
background:#FFFF66;font-weight:bold'>bootleg</span></font></b> law, which was
passed ``primarily to <br>
cloak artists with copyright protection,'' could not stand because it <br>
places no time limit on the ban. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Baer also noted that copyright law protects ``fixed'' works -- such as <br>
books or recorded music releases -- while bootlegs, by definition, are <br>
of live performances. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>A federal grand jury indicted Martignon in October 2003 for selling <br>
``unauthorized recordings of live performances by certain musical <br>
artists through his business.'' <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The business, Midnight Records, once had a store in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Manhattan</st1:place></st1:City> but now <br>
operates solely by mail and Internet. It sells hundreds of recordings, <br>
specializing in rock artists, from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>An e-mail message to Martignon from the Associated Press was not <br>
immediately returned Friday, and a phone number could not immediately <br>
be located. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Megan Gaffney, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney, said <br>
federal prosecutors were ``reviewing the decision and will evaluate <br>
what steps ought to be taken going forward.'' <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group that <br>
fights piracy and bootlegging, also disagreed with the ruling. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The decision ``stands in marked contrast to existing law and prior <br>
decisions that have determined that Congress was well within its <br>
constitutional authority to adopt legislation that prevented <br>
trafficking in copies of unauthorized recordings of live <br>
performances,'' said Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the RIAA. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The <b><span style='background:#FFFF66;font-weight:bold'>bootleg</span></b>
law calls for prison terms of up to five years for first <br>
offenders and 10 years for second offenders, plus fines. It requires <br>
courts to order the destruction of any bootlegs created in violation of <br>
the law. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The law did not apply to piracy, which is the unauthorized copying or <br>
sale of recorded music, such as albums. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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