Copyright Lawyers Sued by Copyright Infringers

[The Rockerfly]

Good, I hate piracy but I think these copyright lawyers that are trying to take away most peoples human rights are much worse and much more damaging to our legal system

I would rather have a few companies (that make massive profits anyway) lose a few possible potential sales (which is bullshit anyway) then have my human rights stripped away for money

 

[Evilsanta]

HA! I sure hope they win against the the lawyers.

Let's see how this plays out.

 

[MajoraPersona]

So, the way I read it is this: A legal firm played both sides (approached companies and told them to force settlements with pirates). Some guy decided that there was a nice, open market in protecting pirates, so he got attacked by the aforementioned legal firm. This brought everyone down on the legal firm.

I see no problem with this.

 

[the1ultimate]

Awesome! Not that I think additional restraints would be a good thing as far as legitimate lawsuits are concerned, nor do I think reviewing the laws will necessarily improve them... But hey, if they can ban legal trolling it would be great.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

YES! OWN THEM! JUDGES, DO NOT THROW THIS CASE OUT!

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

*grabs popcorn* This is becoming genuine entertainment. Now I'm just waiting for them to start cracking mom jokes.

 

[Bretty]

"who recently demanded sanctions against a lawyer who offered cheap assistance to people accused of copyright infringement"

Didn't this lawyer threaten that he will go on the offensive if these ass hats didnt sit back down? Well, I guess they ignored him. Now look whos getting lots of free law advice!

 

[Pendragon9]

And so the great hand of justice slaps the limp-wristed snake who tried to take a few too many cookies from the jar.

 

[AngryMongoose]

Good. You shouldn't be able to use the threat of legal action alone to win a case.

 

[Starke]

"who recently demanded sanctions against a lawyer who offered cheap assistance to people accused of copyright infringement"

Didn't this lawyer threaten that he will go on the offensive if these ass hats didnt sit back down? Well, I guess they ignored him. Now look whos getting lots of free law advice!

As far as I can tell, this isn't even him. He's probably still on slate to go after these guys in a separate case.

 

[soapyshooter]

I hope that law firm gets a good ass fucking. Would be nice for it to have some of its own medicine. Bastards.

 

[sosolidshoe]

Finally, proof that there is still some modicum of justice in the American legal system. Weird to actually see someone suing for a legitimate reason rather than extortion though.

Whether there is justice or not will be decided by the verdict given in this lawsuit, not by nature of it being filed. The likelyhood is that the case will go nowhere. Either the arseholes being sued will offer a massive settlement + exemption from any future mail bombing campaigns for all the plaintiffs, or the people behind the lawsuit will stick to their guns and fight it all the way through the courts, until they reach the level which is heavily politicised and the judges there rule against them for fear of the precedent listed in the article.

Nothing will change. Copyright law is going to become more and more draconian over the coming decades, and eventually it will reach a point where either we settle into a new status quo where consumer rights are a thing of the past, or the whole edifice will implode under the weight of it's own hypocrisy. Judging by the way the majority of people react to the "YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A BABY!!!!11111111HBDG!@213`!" adverts on DVDs, I fear it will be the former.

 

[Asehujiko]

I'd say "Good job sticking it to them", but I have to remember that they are still people who are illegally downloading stuff instead of purchasing it. Both sides in this are the bad guys and I hope a way is found for them to both lose.

The main target demographs for these extortion groups are technologically impaired elderly who are more likely to be intimidated by their claims then actual pirates. A British study into a similar case over there came up with 1 out of 5 of their victims being pirates, mainly by pure chance. Australians are a bit more pessimistic and claim 1 pirate for every 30 innocents.

Even then, there's still the concept of "lesser evil" because what little pirates there are here are very unlikely to start demanding money from you.

 

[Dogstile]

Wait, couldn't these people just defend themselves in court anyway?

Anyone with even a passing glance at law should know that a case will be thrown out if there is no evidence.

That's the problem, and the ewntire point of this counter-suit. Even if there is no chance that they'll be found liable, court battles can easily cost the defendant thousands of dolars, even without a defence council. The USCG knows this, and so threatens a lawsuit but offering a comparitively less expensive option of a settlement, where they pay some agreed-upon fee to their clientsto avoid the lawsuit. In other words, they're saying "Pay us this money or we'll drag you into court over it." The gist of this lawsuit is that that is precisely the intent of threatening thosands of people with lawsuits; not a fair hearing under the law, but extorting money from people too poor to defend themselves.

My mums managed to defend herself in court without even a public defended for a year now and all its cost her is train tickets. Is it different in America?

 

[Kenjitsuka]

I think it's only fair that they are trying this, because people who are indeed not guilty will be scared and intimidated into paying a ridiculous amount of money just to avoid trouble on an even larger scale.
And I think that's an outrage; innocent untill proven guilty!

 

[mew4ever23]

Finally, some justice in this world.

I hope the "pirates" win this one.