Yesterday the Consumer Electronics Association filed an amacus brief in support of XM in its fight against record labels. Labels and XM are in a dispute over the Inno, a device that can store a digital copy of a song played in an XM broadcast.

In the statement, CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro decried the "brazen effort by the labels to strong-arm more money from a successful technology industry startup" and argued the Inno is legal under Section 1008 of the Audio Home Recordings Act. That section states that copying for non-commercial use is not considered to be copyright infringement.

The RIAA contends XM does not have the proper license to grant its customers the ability to create a digital copy. XM's license covers only the broadcast of songs. "We believe that this is a case of direct infringement where they are offering a distribution service without a distribution license," the RIAA's Mitch Glazer told BusinessWeek.

Read a PDF of the amacus brief here.