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NYCL Responds to RIAA Accusations
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "You may recall that when the RIAA decided to run away with its tail between its legs in the long running Brooklyn case against a home health aide who has never used a computer, UMG v. Lindor, it decided to take some parting shots at the defendant and NewYorkCountryLawyer, asking for 'discovery sanctions,' and blaming them for its inability to prove its case. Today NYCL gave them his response, accusing the RIAA lawyers of persistent misstatements of fact (PDF) throughout their motion papers, and of flouting the rules and misstating the law (PDF). Although the RIAA's motion papers took a number of shots at NYCL's copyright law blog, 'Recording Industry vs. The People,' NYCL confined his response on that subject to a single footnote."
It's nice to see someone like NYCL take such an in-your-face position against the RIAA's actions and come out on top.
We here at Slashdot hope you get the RIAA to cover the bill for your hard work!
If not, just post a few more stories here and the ad revenue should cover it.
Being stressed, bashed, scarred, and abused is part of life. Everyone has to deal with it. That happens whether you have the RIAA or not. Having a chance to watch the ones doing the abuse get their just results, if not necessarily humorous, is very satisfying.
Qxe4
Any judge these days who buys into the RIAA's bullshit as an absolute moron and should be impeached immediately for a lack of reasoning ability and common sense. These cases, all based on illegal investigations and no valid legal foundation, along with outright lies in the testimony of their sole "expert" at the ex parte John Doe joined subpoena phase should be stopped at that moment.
It is more than well known that the RIAA method is highly flawed and they have often demanded subscriber information for IP addresses that never existed in the ISP's log. Those are easy to filter out. The real damage comes when the IP address supplied is wrong, but valid to another user. The RIAA admits no error in their procedures and pursues many innocent people.
But the real blame is the idiot judges who seem incapable of understanding that the RIAA is using the court system in ways it was never intended to be used. It's the very same thing that Direct TV (may they rot in Hell) did only a few years earlier. These judges are apparently seduced that the RIAA members are losing billions of never proven dollars to filesharing and that somehow this must be redressed in trials that never seem to happen. I couldn't think less of the judges in too many of these cases, and am not alone in this regard.
There, that felt great!
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
NYCL, I'm surprised. With all of the egregious conduct you're documented, I'm surprised you're just making a declaration in opposition rather than a motion of your own for sanctions under FRCP 11(c)(2). Is your reasoning something you can share with us, or shall we just watch the master in action? ;-)
--Somebody infect me with a
Many times attorneys like NYCL, also have to fight bad judges. There are those that don't know the law, have something against the defendant, plaintiff or attorney, or are activists on some subject. These judges are impossible to deal with and an attorney has tread lightly in the "judges" courtroom.
I recently had my brother go through something like this where the law was completely in his favor on an adoption case, but the judge didn't like the birth mother and ruled for the birth father (who failed to obey the law), thus causing my brother to possibly forfeit custody of the baby. In my brother's case, he spent a lot of money to fight, then appeal and finally win. Being that my brother is, himself, an attorney, he's since moved out to Utah and will likely do some stuff in this area.
Speaking of which: Why haven't we seen NYCL here for a while? Court gag order or something?
Here's a guy who has single handedly changed my opinion of lawyers.
While he certainly is the prime example of fighting the good fight, and looks at bit lonesome, I wouldn't overlook the work of Eben Moglen. He's an excellent public speaker, and I remember seeing a video interview ('ish thing) where he talks about his past as a techie.
There's also Lawrence Lessig, who also shares some of the slashdot groupthink values. He's trying to change the world in a direction I'd like to see it go in. Maybe I want to go longer than him, but I still consider him a good guy and on my side.
Then there are the lawyers working for the EFF, and those talking at hacker cons. The name Cindy Cohen springs to mind.
Maybe they're not quite as much a superhero as Ray (he, not Cory, should be wearing a mask and cape :D), but they shouldn't be overlooked.
In case anyone is wondering what the footnote actually said, here it is on page 17 of umg_lindor_081110DeclarationRB.pdf.
I decline to enter into a point-by-point rejoinder in defense of my modest foray into "blogging". Suffice it to say that (a) my law blog is irrelevant to the motion, (b) plaintiffs' counsel themselves rely upon the blog in the course of their legal work....(c) many in-house university counsels and student legal services offices refer their students to it ....... (d) many law schools and colleges use it in their curricula ..... (e) many reputable organizations have found the views expressed in it to be worthy of further in-depth consideration...... (f) it has been cited in law review articles.....(g) plaintiffs' counsel are not candid about their real problem with the blog, which is that its existence interferes with their tactic of attempting to conceal the litigation events and prior inconsistent statements they don't want others to know about, from judges, litigants, and law enforcement authorities
Emphasis mine. He then goes on to give a specific example of why the RIAA hates his blog, basically because it exposes the stupid things they do to the world. Must be a fun job to use the law to destroy evil. Kind of like that old movie The Rainmaker. If I were Ray Beckerman, I would feel like I were in a movie.
Well if (a) I was getting paid like Jack Nicholson and (b) my clients weren't being hounded by Dracula... it would be fun.
But since it's the real world, I can't honestly say it's fun. To have to read their lies was very upsetting. Correcting each and every one was grueling. The fun part was getting done, and making short shrift of their massive deception.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
I disagree that the cases are "funny". The recklessness expressed by the RIAA lawyers and the utter lack of common sense and decency in both professional and private conduct are disturbing. Please remember that the "accused" are scarred for life. Even if all wrongfully sued people get fully compensated, they still lose out because they have been stressed, bashed and abused.
Very, very true. You were deservably modded to +5.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
I think it should be every American's duty to spend at least one year living outside the country (preferably while they're adult enough to learn something). It might put a small dent in the ridiculously provincial attitude that a lot of Americans have.
Sounds like your children will make excellent cannon fodder for the bullies in society when you finally release them from your protective custody.
If everyone's kids had even the same chance of winding up dead, we'd probably be more hesitant.
And even if not (which is doubtful), as you say, it'll help with overpopulation.
Win-win imho.
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
My mother (special education teacher, now retired) had to "repair" a lot of kids who were home schooled. The parents invariably thought that they were teaching the kids enough "interpersonal skills", but it usually turned out that the parents themselves were socially defective & were incapable of judging whether their own kids had the proper skills to fit into society when "the time came".
I don't know you & your wife well enough to tell whether your family is an exception to that pattern, but when you are deliberately choosing to isolate your kids from the same experiences that every other kid in society goes through, then you'd damn well be prepared to unemotionally & critically analyze whether the choices you are making for your kids will place them at a net disadvantage when you aren't around to manage their social relationships anymore.
I liked your answer to the blog question, but didn't you leave something out?
h) Plaintiff's counsel's objection to my blog is especially perplexing in light of Plaintiff's multi-million dollar advertising that seeks to convince the public that downloading a song is the moral equivalent of auto theft. Plaintiff also spends a great deal of money lobbying to influence Congress to pass ever more restrictive legislation. It is disturbing that Plaintiff's counsel can feel so threatened by a simple text-based blog that simply seeks to shed light on the actions of their respective member companies.