Los Angeles County Declares Music and Video Piracy a Public Nuisance

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (County) recently passed an ordinance which declares music and video piracy a public nuisance. In doing so, the County was supported by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America. The new ordinance authorizes:

• the closure of any property where music or video piracy is taking place for up to one year;
• the seizure and sale of any property used for music or video piracy; and
• the imposition of fines on property owners of $1,000 for each pirated work created on the property.

In addition, the County may also bring civil actions against the owners of property where music or video piracy is taking place to enjoin such activities from occurring. Public nuisance ordinances are normally used by local governments in the US to deal with threats to public peace, morals and welfare, such as illegal drugs, street gangs, prostitution, gambling and the like. In this case, the County declared that movie and video piracy, "substantially interferes with the interest of the public in the quality of life and community peace, lawful commerce in the county, property values, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare of the county's citizens, its businesses and its visitors." It will be interesting to see whether the courts will be called upon to rule on the novel use of this technique being applied to combat movie and video piracy. For more information, see: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/los-angeles-say.html http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/05/la-county-makes.html http://tinyurl.com/63lbno Summary by: Andrei Edwards