Thursday ‘Status Conference’ Set To Determine Next Steps in AHRA Court Fight

Arguments and motions will abound in a Thursday “status conference” called for by a federal judge after she ruled Feb. 19 that she “largely agrees” with Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and their suppliers that the CD-copying hard drives shipped in their vehicle infotainment systems fall outside the scope of the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) (see 1602220055). U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in the District of Columbia called the status conference to give lawyers for the automakers and the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies (AARC) a chance to “discuss how they intend to proceed in this matter,” she said in a Feb. 22 order. Jackson denied the automakers’ Rule 12 motions under federal court procedures to dismiss the case or render a judgment on the pleadings because the allegations in the AARC complaints were “sufficient to survive” those Rule 12 motions, her Feb. 19 opinion said. In the weeks since her ruling, AARC filed separate motions for Jackson to reconsider and clarify her opinion that the automotive hard drives are excluded from the AHRA because they bear computer programs or data that are "unrelated" to the audio content on those hard drives. Jackson granted the automakers’ motion to stay a decision on the AARC motions until after the Thursday status conference.