Marilyn sez, "The Senate late Monday confirmed former Recording Industry Association of America lawyer Donald Verrilli Jr.to serve as the nation's solicitor general. Verrilli, one of at least five former RIAA attorneys appointed to the administration, is best known for leading the recording industry's legal charge against music- and movie-sharing site Grokster. That 2003 case ultimately led to Grokster's demise, when the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a lower court's pro-RIAA verdict."
Until recently, Verrilli also was leading Viacom's ongoing and flailing $1 billion copyright-infringement fight against YouTube.
A court dismissed the case last year, a decison Viacom is appealing. Viacom claims YouTube committed copyright infringement because it did not police the video-sharing site for copyright works uploaded by its users.
Meanwhile, Verrilli in 2008 told a federal judge in Minnesota that merely making copyright works available on file sharing networks amounted to copyright infringement — and that no proof of somebody else downloading those files was required.
Senate Confirms Former RIAA Lawyer for Solicitor General
(Thanks, Marilyn!)
