The Recording Industry of America (RIAA) has filed a CD-copying complaint against Technicolor’s Camarillo, Calif., plant. According to the complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles on April 3, the Camarillo plant knowingly copied and distributed pirated CDs from artists such as *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion, Lauryn Hill and Marc Anthony.
Thomson Multimedia, which acquired Technicolor in 2001, responded that it considers the RIAA allegations concerning a very small number of replication orders completed by Technicolor prior to its acquisition by Thomson to have no merit, according to a Medialine story. Technicolor denies the allegations and will contest the claims asserted by the RIAA.
According to the RIAA, the trade group points to the failure of Technicolor to live up to the legal obligations stemming from a settlement of similar claims in 1998 by the record companies, by refusing to allow for required inspection of books and facilities. Matt Oppenheim, senior VP of business and legal affairs of the RIAA, said, “We fear that the CDs we have filed suit on are only the tip of the iceberg.”
For the past year, the RIAA has attempted to negotiate a settlement with Technicolor, but the company has rebuffed attempted to reach an out-of-court settlement. No court date has been set as of yet.
