RIAA Says MP3s Ripped From CDs Are “Unauthorized”

The RIAA, those champions of freedom and fair use, has taken its crusade against digital media to a new level, arguing that MP3s ripped from a CD are "unauthorized" copies of original music.

In Atlantic v. Howell, the RIAA claims that "[once] Defendant converted Plaintiffs' recording into the compressed .mp3 format and they are in his shared folder, they are no longer the authorized copies distributed by Plaintiffs."

From the supplemental brief from the RIAA:

It is undisputed that Defendant possessed unauthorized copies of Plaintiffs' copyrighted sound recordings on his computer.
...
Defendant admitted that he converted these sound recordings from their original format to the .mp3 format for his and his wife's use.

So, because the defendant in this case converted a CD to MP3s, they're no longer authorized? That certainly seems like a stretch, even for the RIAA.

However unlikely this is to become the rule of law, it's a major step for the RIAA to claim that consumers can't make digital versions of music from legally purchased CDs.

In fact, according to Recording Industry vs The People, who have chronicled the RIAA's many lawsuits, it's a contradiction to their own arguments in MGM v. Grokster.

One of the biggest holes in the argument for digital rights management (DRM) of downloaded music is that CDs have no copy protection technology (well, except Sony's rootkit), so ripping a CD is the easiest path to acquiring and freely using digital music.

If you're an integrator who offers ripping services or sell media servers, this leap by the RIAA is something to worry about. While it seems unlikely that a court would rule against ripping CDs for personal use, the fact that the RIAA even tries to get there shows how little they care about or understand fair use.

What do you think? Is this a major stretch by the RIAA, or is there are an argument to be made against CD ripping?