Pryor Cashman partner Jeffrey Johnson was quoted on Newsfactor.com on October 3, 2007 in the article “Precedent-Setting Piracy Case Begins.” The article by Jennifer LeClaire is about the more than 20,000 lawsuits launched by The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) since it set out on its campaign to stop digital piracy.

Although Johnson believes that the music industry is taking a calculated risk that the case facts will be compelling to an average jury, he thinks that the RIAA's bet is a good one. As he states in the article: “While the defendant may seem sympathetic at first glance, this is not a case of occasional or incidental infringement. Illegally downloading thousands of songs is not something people do innocently. They know they're getting something for nothing when they do it, and regardless of how ‘tech savvy’ the jury is, I think they'll pick up on that.”

Johnson also noted that he does not believe a win for the defendant will substantially impact the pervasiveness of illegal digital downloading.

To read the article, please click here.