U.S. v. Cassim: Domingo Rivera obtains first Federal "music piracy" jury trial defense victory

According to the indictment, RNS was a first-provider or release group for pirated music and other content to the Internet. Once a group obtains and prepares infringing digital copies of copyrighted works, the copies can then be distributed in a matter of hours to secure computer servers throughout the world.

Today, a federal jury acquitted Adil Cassim who was represented by Domingo J. Rivera.; The United States Department of Justice had alleged that Adil Cassim was the leader of Rabid Neurosis “RNS”. On the DOJ website, the press release alleged that according to the indictment, the defendants, led by Cassim for a period of time, allegedly conspired to illegally upload to RNS thousands of copyright protected music files, which were often subsequently reproduced and distributed hundreds of thousands of times.

According to the indictment, RNS was a “first-provider” or “release group” for pirated music and other content to the Internet. Once a group obtains and prepares infringing digital copies of copyrighted works, the copies can then be distributed in a matter of hours to secure computer servers throughout the world.

According to the indictment, RNS members were granted access to massive libraries of
pirated music, video games, software and movies by gaining a reputation for providing previously unavailable pirated materials. The indictment alleges that “the supply of pre-release music was often provided by music industry insiders, such as employees of compact disc (CD) manufacturing plants,radio stations and retailers, who typically receive advance copies of music prior to its commercial release.Read the USDOJ press release here.

Various alleged members of RNS have been convicted. The jury’s verdict was released a few hours ago, more details will be available soon.