MPAA Says No Proof Needed in P2P Copyright Infringement Lawsuits
Found on Wired on Friday, 20 June 2008
The Motion Picture Association of America said Friday intellectual-property holders should have the right to collect damages, perhaps as much as $150,000 per copyright violation, without having to prove infringement.
"Mandating such proof could thus have the pernicious effect of depriving copyright owners of a practical remedy against massive copyright infringement in many instances," MPAA attorney Marie L. van Uitert wrote Friday to the federal judge overseeing the Jammie Thomas trial.
That's a splendid idea. They could simply mail out bills to everybody without needing to prove anything by ruling out the "in dubio pro reo" rule. And it's not like they ever before picked someone innocent, like a family without a computer, a deceased grandmother or similar cases, right?