Fighting a copyright lawsuit over its new handheld Inno device, XM Satellite Radio on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss the case on the grounds that the 1992 Home Recording Audio Act protects it.

According to an Associated Press story, XM's lawyers said in their filing: "Congress' efforts to insure that the powerful recording industry would not be able to restrict the right of consumers to record songs that are broadcast over the radio or stifle innovation by chilling the development and use of the latest recording technologies."

XM's Inno, which some have compared to the iPod, can store up to 50 hours of music and has the ability to record and automatically organize music. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which XM said supported the 1992 law when it was passed, said that Inno amounted to "massive wholesale infringement" when it filed the lawsuit in May. It wants US$150,000 in damages for every song copied by an Inno user.

RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy called XM's legal arguments "arcane" and noted: "If XM wants to compete with iTunes, Rhapsody and similar music distribution services, it needs to obtain the appropriate authorization."

The Consumer Electronics Association, a trade association for equipment manufacturers, sided with XM Satellite, as did the Home Recording Rights Coalition. Where XM has dug in its heels regarding RIAA demands for distribution licenses similar to the ones Apple has for iTunes, its rival, Sirius, has paid for them to cover the devices it has in development.