Richie Ramone was Robbed!
Richie Ramone, one of the drummers for The Ramones, lost his fight to get paid for 6 songs he wrote because a judge said that digital files are not “manufactured or sold” but are instead transmitted and licensed.
Wha? So when I pay someone (e.g., Apple) to “buy” a song, and I download the song and do whatever I want with it (listen to it, share it, give it someone as a gift, etc.), I did not “buy” it? Apple did not “sell” the digital file to me? Sure, music from iTunes and other online music retailers has restrictions, but they are easy to circumvent and hardly change the fact that the digital file is “sold” in an online music transaction. Except, apparently, according to this judge, that’s not true.
See why I don’t practice copyright law?
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April 24th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Tragic. But he should be used to it by now… being screwed over and under-appreciated is par for the course for the Ramones.
April 27th, 2008 at 11:50 am
IP law is the greatest.
Seriously. When I worked for this IP law firm, I had the best standard of living, i.e. highest salary, greatest health insurance, and best quality of life EVER. The firm took us - meaning everyone, lawyers, paralegals, and secretaries - out to lunch on a random day every week, would order out for munchies throughout the week, would get us goodies all the time, etc. Clients would bring in toys and free samples all the time.
It was such a great life.
And those guys, i.e. the lawyers, were multi-millionaires. The youngest was in his late 20s and had only been practicing for 7 years and was “only” worth $5 mil. And he was just the most junior of the associates!
So do think about changing fields of law.
June 14th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Richie Ramone’s attorneys have appealed the case.