Monday was the big day for Diamond and its adversary, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA had sought to prevent Diamond from releasing its upcoming MP3 player, the Rio PMP300, with a preliminary injunction order which placed a ten day manufacturing and shipping halt on the Diamond Rio. The order was brought before the judge earlier and the judge denied the RIAA's motion to cease manufacturing and shipping the Rio this afternoon in a Los Angeles courtroom. In short, Judge Audrey Collins today effectively cleared way for the launch of the Rio.

　　"We are pleased with the ruling," said Andrew Bridges, attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, attorneys representing Diamond Multimedia. "This suit was brought on by the RIAA as a violation of the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA), which imposes technology restrictions on certain types of consumer audio recording devices. Diamond Multimedia's Rio, which is incapable of independent recording or serial copying, simply is not a device governed by the AHRA."

　　"The ruling is an important step towards establishing the Rio player and the market for MP3 as a popular format for artists to distribute their music over the Internet," said Ken Wirt, vice president of corporate marketing at Diamond Multimedia. "We have always been confident that the Rio is a lawful device. Rio has no recording capability and does not permit serial copying."

　　Diamond is still on target with releasing the device next month although the company has been held back ten days while the preliminary injunction was in effect.

　　While today's ruling clearly rewards Diamond, the RIAA's complaint still stands - and undoubtedly the RIAA's efforts to pursue the Rio won't end here. Luckily, gamers who have been waiting for the Rio can rest assured that the devices are on the way.

　　For now, those in charge of the Rio at Diamond Multimedia were elated at the Judge's decision.