RIAA Sues Sierra Over Tribes 2

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in its ongoing battle against online music piracy and copyright infringement, has filed suit against Sierra Entertainment, Inc. Specifically, the RIAA charges Sierra with promoting the illegal distribution of music MP3 files in their popular Tribes 2 multiplayer game.

Hilary B. Rosen, president and CEO of the RIAA, explained the reasoning behind the legal action. "Clearly Sierra is promoting the free distribution and copying of MP3s by even including these files with their software. Installing the game copies the music to the user's hard drive. Once on disk as MP3 files, they can be easily copied, uploaded, and downloaded. That's aiding and abetting piracy."

A Sierra spokesperson was baffled. "We don't know what the fuss is about. Our subsidiary developer, Dynamix, created those MP3s specifically for Tribes 2, so we own the copyrights on them. And they're just ambient background music, not chart-topping singles."

"I thought the RIAA was only concerned about losing income from their money machines like Britney Spears," said a disgusted Tribes 2 gamer. "What'll they do next, outlaw music altogether?"

The RIAA's Rosen was firm. "President Bush has declared war on terrorism, and we have declared war on music piracy. Besides," she added, "everyone knows gamers are hackers and software pirates, sort of like the drug addicts of the Internet. If we can't get them individually, we'll go after their suppliers."