SunnComm Sees The Light: Ditches Lawsuit Plans
from the no-surprise-there dept
It seems that the quick and loud response over SunnComm's announced plans to sue have worked. In less than 24 hours, SunnComm has gone from plans to sue the student who discovered that their copy protection could be defeated by using the "shift" key on your computer to saying that they don't want to create a "chilling effect" on research and won't sue. Of course, they do take a few potshots, saying that "the damage has been done" and a lawsuit wouldn't solve that. This is, of course, almost an exact replica of what happened to the student's adviser, Ed Felten, two years ago (on whose blog I found this story). The RIAA threated to sue, and then immediately turned around (when faced with public outcry) and said that they wouldn't. Still, it seems pretty clear that the "chilling effects" are still there, unless you can raise a similar public outcry. Basically, these companies will use the DMCA to threaten people, and hope that they get scared away. The few people who fight back (and can make a stink about it) are told "oh no, we were just kidding, run along now and tinker away...."Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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No leg to stand on ...
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Re: No leg to stand on ...
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whose secret?
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No Subject Given
But if they announce that they plan to sue, maybe the student will get scared and take the content down and they can pretend the whole thing never happened.
It didn't work, and it was stupid, but I think that was their plan.
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Re: No Subject Given
barratry - The offense of persistently instigating lawsuits, typically groundless ones.
It's not just wrong, it's a crime. If you say "I'm going to sue you", you had better plan to actually do so, otherwise the 'defendant' can legally countersue you for any money they spent on preparing a legal defense to your phony lawsuit.
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They won't sue but will dish dirt behind his back
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Re: They won't sue but will dish dirt behind his b
In December 2000, SunnComm announced a $20M deal with Will-Shown, who they described as a major Pacific Rim CD Manufacturer.
SunnComm Inks $20+ Million Copy Protection Deal With Major Pacific Rim CD Manufacturer
http://cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/news/0012/sunncomm_cd_protect.shtml
People are asking who is the Will-Shown Technology Company. Why would a CD manufacturer license copy protection? It is not a record label. Why would it commit so much to an untested product by a penny stock with no track record? How could a major Pacific Rim CD manufacturer not have a web site? How come it is not even mentioned on the web by anyone else? The stock price tripled in the days after the announcement. Who can find Will-Shown and clear up the mystery? A major Pacific Rim CD Manufacturer couldn't just vanish like that, could it?
SunnComm was previously named Desert Winds Entertainment. The SEC found a little problem with them: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/complr17462.htm
Paloma appointed Jacobs as president and Jacobs, who accused Halderman of wrong doing, was the person responsible for the Will-Shown press release.
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