EMI's lawsuit against Seeqpod took an unprecedented step: naming not just the company but its CEO, investors, and an unrelated individual named Ryan Sit. Ryan is a San Diego developer, UCSD graduate, married with a newborn child, who used Seeqpod's public API to build Favtape — a music search mashup.
EMI's lawsuit against Ryan is the first example of an API user being sued for the actions of the host company. If API users can be held liable, it threatens how the internet works. Dozens of services use Seeqpod's API. The internet is interconnected — service to service. If you can't connect there is no internet.
Content owners have the right to control where their property is displayed, but the right does not extend to holding liable anyone who links to that material. I hope the case against Ryan Sit is dropped. Record labels seem to be moving in the opposite direction from enlightenment.
--MR
