We first wrote about ReDigi in February this year: the company announced plans to launch a secondhand digital music store, allowing people to resell their downloads. It finally launched in beta last month touting ‘forensic Verification Engine’ technology to ensure that people’s tracks are eligible for resale. Are rightsholders pleased? In a word, no. The RIAA has sent ReDigi a cease-and-desist letter, pointing out that because it stores copies of people’s tracks on its own servers, the company is guilty of “willful copyright infringement”. The letter goes on to suggest that ReDigi’s claim that it is legal under the US ‘first sale doctrine’ is false, because that covers people selling on a particular (physical) copy of an album.
“It does not permit the owner to make another copy, sell the second copy and destroy the original.” The letter also claims that by offering unlicensed 30-second streaming samples on its website, ReDigi is also willfully infringing copyright.
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Tools: Kaiber
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