"DVD-Jon" Demands Compensation

orzetto writes "Jon Lech Johansen, known as DVD-Jon, and aquitted in a trial in Norway, after being accused of infringement for making a GUI for DeCSS, is now demanding that Norwegian Oekokrim pay for all the time and money he has lost to the trial, claiming 150,000 NOK (about 17,500 euros)."

Comments

FYI

[Omega1045]

That is about $22,000. I would want my money back, too.

Re:FYI

[dabadab]

As this was a criminal case, he got a free defender from the Norvegian state.

Re:FYI

[IdleTime]

He could actually pick and choose laywers and no matter who he chooses, the state will pay an already agreed upon per hour fee for the lawyer.

Norway has a pretty good system to ensure that you as a civilian can get a fair and decent trial despite your lack of money. I.e no big corp can push you over in the judical system. The law is trying to be fair in that area.

Re:FYI

[dabadab]

Well, the Norwegian system is different: basically all lawyers are "public defenders", so you can have a pretty well-known lawyer as your defender for free (as in paid indirectly by your taxes :-) )

Re:FYI

[vidarh]

Yes, usually they are good. Norway doesn't have a system of public defenders employed by the government, but a system where lawyers are remunerated on an hourly basis (with some limits) and where most lawyers will accept cases as public defenders. There are occasionally cases where lawyers are unwilling to accept cases at the government rates, but it's rare.

If you are uncomfortable with the lawyer allocated for your defense you are always legally entitled to choose your own lawyer, and in most such cases the lawyer you choose can then be paid by the government at the fixed hourly rate.

This system also cover civil lawsuits if your salary and savings are below certain levels. In many cases you can get the government to cover your lawyers fees as a plaintiff in civil cases as well, provided the case meets certain criteria and your salary and savings are below the threshold.

Personally, I once got a publicly allocated defender as I was being drafted (Norway has compulsory military service) and refused to accept their denial of my application to be exempted.

The case never went to trial (I got it thrown out of court :)), but the lawyer I was allocated was actually one of the most prominent lawyers in Norway, with 30 years experience in similar cases. He took time to read all the documents, talked to me on the phone, had a very relaxed meeting with me in his office, not worrying about how much time we spent. I'm sure not everyone has as pleasant experience with their publicly allocated defenders as I had, but in general I think the system works fairly well.

(ObDisclaimer: IANAL)

Re:It's not the USD value, it's the purchasing pow

[Jhan]

That doesn't matter at all. Does the 150,000NOK have the same purchasing power in Norway as 20,000USD has in the states? If not, the comparison is completely worthless.

Unfortunately, prices in Norway are extremely high, mostly because of all that oil money causing inflation. This more than offsets the current weakness of the USD.

The reason that the amount is so low is quite another; in Norway damages are strictly based on the actual money lost (well, and to a lesser amount things like emotional damage). If you asked for american-style amounts ("I'm suing for $300.000.000!"), you would be laughed out of court.

Jon used a public defender, so his costs weren't that high.