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NC Judge Takes "A Fresh Look" At RIAA Subpoenas
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "When some North Carolina State students recently brought to the attention of the Court the apparent illegality of the RIAA's investigations by unlicensed investigators, they also caught the attention of the judges. After reading these new papers, District Judge Louise W. Flanagan, who admits that she's been routinely signing the RIAA's ex parte discovery orders in the past, has indicated that she is now going to take 'a fresh look' at the RIAA's tactics. She issued a stay of the subpoena, ordering NC State not to respond to it, and referred the motions to dismiss the cases to a Magistrate Judge for him to take that 'fresh look' at what has been going on."
Even if it's late.
Time to look for another business method...
So fess up. Which one of you geeks up at Research Triangle Park left the cluesprayer on last night, because it's obviously leaking cluons all over the friggin' state.
I'm not saying you should stop the leak, by the way. I'm just curious as to the source.
Two possibilities:
1) This is a christmas miracle and a single Judge is turning out to be something other than a slimy evil-beyond-belief scumbag and we'll all live happily ever after...
2) She's just doing this to force them to bribe her again.
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
How am I supposed to get good legal commentary if no-one's posting on /.?
Leela: "Is all the work done by children?" Alien: "No, not the whipping."
In all cases before this court, the undersigned has allowed plaintiffs' expedited motion for discovery.
Open source file sharing of all files, containing both copyrighted and uncopyrighted content, is Constitutionally mandated on Legal Discovery Process grounds. We all have just as much of a right as any trade organization, as any ISP, or as any government to analyze all content ever created to search for copyright infringements. We can all legally enlist all paid and voluntary help whatsoever in this endeavor.
If defendants are charged with copyright infringement, they have the right to argue and exhibit evidence that invalidates the original copyright claims themselves, such as showing prior art, or overlapping use of content which is the copyright ownership of secondary parties. This can only be accomplished by copying and manually (or automatically in hash recognition programs) inspecting the files. Prohibiting defendants and secondary claimants from gathering evidence is a violation of their due process and legal discovery rights. Thus, cease and desist and take down notices for any and all files shared on the internet are violations of due process and discovery rights for First, Second, and Third Parties. Result, P2P file sharing is absolutely necessary, and inhibiting the free flow of information (for non commercial non profit legal discovery evidence purposes) is wholly unconstitutional.
What's next? The Courts rule that handwriting expert testimony cannot be introduced as evidence in a court because it violates the copyrights of the person who wrote the words?
Thus I have Discovered that P2P open source file sharing is absolutely necessary for the protection of copyrights. Yeah, I'm just that good. Please notify me immediately if you find this post in any torrent files such as for example a file which was theoretically named everything_ever_made_by_Walt_Disney.tor so that I may undertake appropriate legal actions to defend myself. I also humbly request infinite deputized voluntary intern help in vetting every data bit available on the internet for the purposes of determining that no copyright violations regarding my content are being wrongfully claimed or distributed. I will also likewise be glad to reciprocate in helping to determine that none of your copyrighted stuff is also illegally contained in files. Thank you for your assistance, and welcome to your first day as an intern in Open Source Legal Discovery Inc. ^_^
May your file sharing Legal Discovery Searches, be fruitful. And yes, you can put OSLDI Intern on your resume.
"From DNA to P2P, we are all Copycats now. Go Go Copycat Power! Copycat Powers activate! Form of, a Copycat." --monxrtr