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From RIAA.com:

RIAA Hails First Ever Civil Prosecution of Swap Meet Owner For Turning Blind Eye To Pirated Music Sold On Premises

�San Bernardino (Cal.) District Attorney Prosecutes Local Swap Meet Owners

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) hailed the civil prosecution Monday of two owners of a San Bernardino, California swap meet/flea market -- the first-ever instance of a local, state or federal law enforcement agency filing civil charges for repeatedly turning a blind eye to pirated music sold on swap meet/flea market premises. The owners of the Waterman Discount Mall and Indoor Swap, Ho Suh Jin and Gustavo Zarate, were repeatedly advised that vendors on their premises were blatantly hawking pirated CDs and failed to take any proactive steps to address the illegal activity. For more detailed information, contact R. Glenn Yabuno with the San Bernardino District Attorney's office @ (909) 891-3330.

While the RIAA, on behalf of its member companies, has filed civil lawsuits against swap meet/flea market owners and operators in Houston, Sacramento and Columbus, New Jersey, Monday's action by the San Bernardino District Attorney represents the first ever civil charges brought by government prosecutors. The RIAA's civil enforcement actions are part of a larger campaign to target piracy at flea markets, with major efforts in St. Louis, New England and New Jersey just in the last couple of weeks. Below is the comment of Cary Sherman, President, RIAA, on the civil charges against the San Bernardino swap meet/flea market owners.

"We are grateful for the efforts of district attorney Michael A. Ramos and his team. This action represents an important milestone - for swap meet owners who think they can profit from piracy, civil charges are a reality. This strong deterrent should further up the ante for those who think they can flout the law and rob artists, songwriters, music publishers and record companies by illegally selling copyrighted music."

During my formative years, the Greater Kansas City Metro landscape was dotted with living, breathing, Drive-In picture shows. During the warmer months, these havens of Americana were populated with swap meets and flea markets during daylight, on the weekends. My old man liked to cruise these things for cheap knock-offs of newly engineered tools; if he liked the way the knock-off handled, he might go buy a copy of the warrantied national brand (i.e., Snap-On, Mac, Craftsman, etc.).

Needless to say, it was pretty common knowledge that anywhere from 25 to 50% of the stuff at places like the Heart Drive-In and the Boulevard swap meets was first or second-hand stolen. After a few visits, you could get a greasy feel for who was middling their wares on the 5-finger discount, and who was just taking advantage of a unique outlet for legitimate business.

This whole story sucks though. I'm all for protecting artists' rights and everything, but this strikes me as a type of malicious prosecution. Swap meet folks tend be from the fringes of life, dealing in cash and free corn dogs from the concession stand. Prosecuting the guys who provide the space for these oddballs is just the kind of abuse of power that we're taught to be vigilant about from the minute we can say "Thomas Jefferson." No, friends, Ho Suh Jin and Gustavo Zarate are supposedly the "deep pockets" in this whole scenario. What a pissant turn of events.

Not to put too fine of a point on it, but the bootleg record industry isn't run out of a basement in Joplin, Missouri. Assuming things are similar to the way they've always been, there are planes, trains, and automobiles involved, and ol' Ho and Gustavo are simply standing by the wrong stalls at the wrong time. There's only one real defensible position for the vicious San Bernardino District Attorney: if Jin and Zarate were making real, direct profits off the sale of these bootlegs; as in, anyone selling them was giving the two men direct percentages. If Willie the Hobo was merely ponying up his $10 entrance fee to the flea market for the day, then the San Bernardino District Attorney is one of the biggest assholes ever.

Finally, let's get back to the Boulevard Drive-In in the lovely Rosedale neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. If the biggest problem the District Attorney has is the bootleg CD's going in and out of there, well then, where can I get me some San Bernardino property for cheap? Even my relatively innocent childhood eyes knew 1, 2, or 12 felonies when I saw them back then, and I doubt flea markets and swap meets have changed much. This sort of thing happens when special interests with too much money laying around co-opt government agencies. No one is claiming that the prosecuted actions here aren't illegal; rather, the question is, aren't there bigger fish to fry, both on this crime and others?