Mass Infringement Pre-Settlement Lawyers Team Up To All Fail Together
from the good-luck dept
We've noted how in the past year, a bunch of "pay up or we'll sue" law firm operations have popped up, signing up confused and short-sighted copyright holders, who believe that shaking down fans is a business model that can work. Of course, to date, this legal strategy has been failing pretty spectacularly in court. It is true that some folks just pay up but as these lawsuits continue to have trouble in court, people will begin to realize that paying money to someone who just demands it probably isn't a smart move. Of course, one of the issues is that none of the law firms actually have the manpower to follow through and sue people, so it should come as little surprise that some of the law firms who have recently been losing in court, including Kenneth Ford, the lawyer for Axel Braun, as well as Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver (which is the law firm behind US Copyright Group) are teaming up to try to work together. I guess they figure it's better to fail together, rather than to watch each fail alone.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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Filed Under: copyright, pre-settlement
Companies: us copyright group
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http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5563/125/
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DGW gets a few firms in or near major metro centers to file these mass shakedowns in multiple courts to avoid the jurisdictional issue. This only serves to keep the "settlement mill" running. They still don't have the ability, the manpower or even the intention to take any signifigant number of people to trial. What needs to be done is to force a court to make a decision on misjoinder and make these shysters file individual suits.
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Sure would be nice to collect some of the money these firms waste.
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By banding together (and probably adding in lawyers all over the country) they can refile in many jurisdictions, once again starting the process.
The only "mill" here is the piracy that keeps grinding out the free copies, day in, day out.
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Please back that up. How is a "pirate" going to be made to pay a more expensive fight?
By banding together (and probably adding in lawyers all over the country) they can refile in many jurisdictions, once again starting the process.
Obviously, the RIAA's lesson in 2008 from this is no indicator of the future. They have three major cases pending.
A pyrric victory
A refusal to pay
Limewire's search seeking vs the RIAA's statutory damages
How about some research before looking bad in front of others next time? ;)
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Jammie Thomas is a great example. She is likely to spend the rest of her life living poor because she got horrible legal advice. Instead of settling for a few thousand and moving on (which the RIAA offered her multiple times) they fought, and now she is pretty much under a settlement order for the rest of her life.
Limewire is even worse, they are likely to set the whole thing back for filesharers, when the RIAA comes up with enough information to convince the courts of the losses as a result of file sharing, which could very likely establish a working number.
All three of those cases have been won by the RIAA, all were found liable. The question is how much, not if.
Perhaps you would like to do some research before looking stupid in front of others next time.
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You know, I've been looking for a rejoinder to "freetards," and I think I've found it.
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It is funny, but is it worth stooping to their level?
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I'll stoop to any level to get a laugh.
...On the other hand, I'm not all that funny, so I guess I should keep it civil instead.
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We have a precedent.
300 000 songs willfully infringed for commercial gain = 45Mil.
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5563/125/
That is $150 each when used commercially. What should it be for Jammies' non-commercial use?
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She was already the poster child for RIAA abuse. She has four children, little, if any, income, and works mainly with natural resource coordination (read: ~$20,000 - $30,000) income.
She could have paid the $25,000 that was offered but that's more than her budget could truly afford. She chose a fight, which I truly can't blame her for. The one ding on the entire thing is damages.
Limewire
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The RIAA has been having that particular stumbling block since the DMCA came out. They lobbied for the laws and yet have NO proof of the damages caused by filesharing. Yes, they can shut down the P2P technology but then something else comes up that they can't fight. They try to take that down and like moles, something else springs up. So keep on believing they can convince a court of economic damages. I just think that (FINALLY) we can get a few good details on filesharing in this modern era, instead of lopsided anecdotal evidence of it "killing an industry".
Perhaps you would like to do some research before looking stupid in front of others next time.
After 10 years of studying this stuff, studying (and using Napster and finding newer bands), listening to Dmusic.com, jamendo, OCRemix, last.fm, among the myriad of other things, I think my education is well on its way.
But I guess when your last piece of music was analog tape, you can't expect much. Oh well, better luck next time with the insults. ;)
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Limewire
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The RIAA has been having that particular stumbling block since the DMCA came out. They lobbied for the laws and yet have NO proof of the damages caused by filesharing. Yes, they can shut down the P2P technology but then something else comes up that they can't fight. They try to take that down and like moles, something else springs up. So keep on believing they can convince a court of economic damages. I just think that (FINALLY) we can get a few good details on filesharing in this modern era, instead of lopsided anecdotal evidence of it "killing an industry".
Perhaps you would like to do some research before looking stupid in front of others next time.
After 10 years of studying this stuff, studying (and using Napster and finding newer bands), listening to Dmusic.com, jamendo, OCRemix, last.fm, among the myriad of other things, I think my education is well on its way.
But I guess when your last piece of music was analog tape, you can't expect much. Oh well, better luck next time with the insults. ;)
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One thing you didn't mention: the RIAA is not the only one coming up with loss figures. As directed by the judge, Limewire is also coming out with its own estimates.
Between the two, I think we'll see some real interesting figures. If the judge is rational (I'm betting he is), the damages will almost certainly be closer to Limewire's estimates.
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...thankfully we have the EFF around to, you know, remind people of these things.
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That and not reusing a link in the span of a paragraph.
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M_O_N_E Y
oh that's right it's just for the 'JUST CAUSE" as we all know..
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How do figure they're misjoined? I thought USCG has done a good job pleading sufficient facts to justify joinder under Rule 20. The judges have agreed.
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Extortion
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