Diamond, RIAA Settle Internet Music Lawsuit

After more than nine months of litigation, Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc., maker of the popular Rio MP3 player, and the Recording Industry Association of America Wednesday settled a lawsuit that at one time threatened to stop the device’s debut.

Last October, the RIAA filed a lawsuit against Diamond in San Francisco federal court, claiming that Diamond’s Rio player violated the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act. The court found in favor of Diamond in June, yet litigation continued about the legality of the Rio player and the openness of the digital music download industry.

On Wednesday, the parties dismissed their legal actions and said they are mutually satisfied with the resolution of outstanding legal issues. No other details were disclosed.

Both groups said they will now work together to focus their attention on the Secure Digital Music Initiative, a consortium of music industry, electronic and multimedia firms working to combat digital music piracy.

“We filed this lawsuit because it was important to protect the rights of our artists, recording companies and others in the face of a potentially escalating threat from online piracy,” said Cary Sherman, senior executive vice president and general counsel of the RIAA.

“But even as this case went through the legal system, we worked closely with Diamond Multimedia in the SDMI process.”

“Diamond Multimedia and our RioPort subsidiary are pleased to bring an end to this legal dispute as we move forward with the music industry on the development of secure e-commerce music offerings through the SDMI,” said Ron Moore, general counsel of Diamond Multimedia.

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