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Judge Tells RIAA To Stop 'Bankrupting' Litigants
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The Boston judge who has consolidated all of the RIAA's Massachusetts cases into a single case over which she has been presiding for the past 5 years delivered something of a rebuke to the RIAA's lawyers, we have learned. At a conference this past June, the transcript of which (PDF) has just been released, Judge Nancy Gertner said to them that they 'have an ethical obligation to fully understand that they are fighting people without lawyers ... to understand that the formalities of this are basically bankrupting people, and it's terribly critical that you stop it ...' She also acknowledged that 'there is a huge imbalance in these cases. The record companies are represented by large law firms with substantial resources,' while it is futile for self-represented defendants to resist. The judge did not seem to acknowledge any responsibility on her part, however, for having created the 'imbalance,' and also stated that the law is 'overwhelmingly on the side of the record companies,' even though she seems to recognize that for the past 5 years she has been hearing only one side of the legal story."
This so reminds me of the tobacco cases that, once won, the wining lawyers turned around and sued the very people they represented because they wanted a bigger share of the blood money..
Somehow the Judge chiding RIAA weasels seems like a morality lesson from the Sopranos...
- Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
The judge did not seem to acknowledge any responsibility on her part, however, for having created the 'imbalance', and also stated that the law is 'overwhelmingly on the side of the record companies', even though she seems to recognize that for the past 5 years she has been hearing only one side of the legal story."
I'm going to need a little bit more explanation that isn't in TFA. The judge has been presiding over a trial for 5 years in which only one side is allowed to speak? Is this the result of some RIAA-lobbyist induced law that says the other side doesn't get a say, or for some reason did the judge declare the other side didn't get to talk in this case? Are the next five years of the court case going to be "Now the RIAA doesn't get to talk, defendants only."?
I'm still trying to figure out how to tell if a file I want to download is one its creator wants me to have, or one that may get me sued and bankrupted.
Simple, every legit MPAA movie I've ever acquired has had a copyright notice at the start. So if doesn't have one, it must be free to share.. right?
needs personal pronouns?