Copyright Lawyers Sued by Copyright Infringers

[thublihnk]

Finally, a news piece on the Escapist that mentions piracy and doesn't end in 'All news aside, Pirates can go suck cocks in hell.'

A refreshing change in pace.

 

[superbatranger]

Next thing you know, the guy who wrote the lawsuit is going to sue his pen for running out of ink.

 

[sir.rutthed]

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.

It may come to that, but I certainly hope not. It's lawsuits like this one that are going to be the first step in preventing that kind of legal landscape though, and certainly not Congress. At the very least this will open the door for similar suits to be filed, which will give the copyright groups pause before they just start carpet bombing with lawsuits again.

 

[poiuppx]

if you steal a movie and get sued its your own damn fault. Im rooting for the fear mongering lawyers.

The issue being that these individuals have only been accused of theft, not found guilty. I'm pretty damn anti-pirate, but the fact remains that they could just as easily target you or me if they thought they could scare us into paying up. Let the fear-mongers die off, and then let the next generation actually intentionally target provable cases of piracy with the intention of carrying the suit through, and not just extorting money. The legal system wins, the extortionists lose, and the real pirates lose. Seems logical to me.

 

[Gindil]

if you steal a movie and get sued its your own damn fault. Im rooting for the fear mongering lawyers.

The issue being that these individuals have only been accused of theft, not found guilty. I'm pretty damn anti-pirate, but the fact remains that they could just as easily target you or me if they thought they could scare us into paying up. Let the fear-mongers die off, and then let the next generation actually intentionally target provable cases of piracy with the intention of carrying the suit through, and not just extorting money. The legal system wins, the extortionists lose, and the real pirates lose. Seems logical to me.

But the incentive is there to use play the game of legal extortion. If we take away the high statutory sums (which say that a business doesn't have to prove damages) then we take away the incentive for such a crazy lawsuit scheme in the first place.

 

[kebab4you]

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.

Cheer for the the one that is less evil, i.e the "pirates".

 

[poiuppx]

if you steal a movie and get sued its your own damn fault. Im rooting for the fear mongering lawyers.

The issue being that these individuals have only been accused of theft, not found guilty. I'm pretty damn anti-pirate, but the fact remains that they could just as easily target you or me if they thought they could scare us into paying up. Let the fear-mongers die off, and then let the next generation actually intentionally target provable cases of piracy with the intention of carrying the suit through, and not just extorting money. The legal system wins, the extortionists lose, and the real pirates lose. Seems logical to me.

But the incentive is there to use play the game of legal extortion. If we take away the high statutory sums (which say that a business doesn't have to prove damages) then we take away the incentive for such a crazy lawsuit scheme in the first place.

Why not combine the two? Let these leeches get slaughtered in the arena of the courts, then let that slaughter inspire significant changes to the strictures that lead to such high statuatory sums. The leeches get wiped out, the system changes, and the next generation can run forward without either the old leeches giving them tainted advice or having such schemes open to them. Then when piracy is attacked, companies will have to target legit provable cases, which will see those responsible receiving appropriate punishment without the risk of drawing the rest of us in. We win, the developers win, the legal system wins. The leeches become the only losers.