RIAA vs Mom

[White Haven]

RIAA Vs Mom:
Read the transcript of this court appearance by a mother of 5 being sued by the RIAA. Is it just me or do you get the feeling the judge is solidly in the mother’s corner? The judge shut down the RIAA at every turn and then said this:

THE COURT: Okay. Well, I think it would be a really good idea for you to get a lawyer, because I would love to see a mom fighting one of these.

Nabbed off HardOCP....god it was fun reading one of those sleazeball fucks getting punched in the face.

[Jadeite]

I love the ending of that, when Maschio tries to bring the conference settlement center into it, and the Judge just slaps him down.

[Eleas]

I love the ending of that, when Maschio tries to bring the conference settlement center into it, and the Judge just slaps him down.

For those who, like me, are unversed in the intricacies of the RIIA and american law, what would this conference settlement center stuff result in?

[Pablo Sanchez]

For those who, like me, are unversed in the intricacies of the RIIA and american law, what would this conference settlement center stuff result in?

The Conference Settlement center is the body of the RIAA that is set up to grab individuals accused of pirating music so that they will accept an out-of-court settlement. Basically, the Settlement Center comes along and says, "pay us a few thousand dollars out of court or else you will lose the suit and be liable for hundreds of thousands, and even if you win you will be bankrupted by legal fees." The Settlement Center is just a strong arm outfit that uses the US court system as a method to rob people (more or less). Especially people like the defendant in this case, who doesn't even know what kind of lawyer to retain.

What happened in this case was, the defendant didn't go for the Conference Center, so the attorney took it into the court. Ordinarily the judge would not really care so much about the case, and the RIAA lawyer would just intimidate the defendant back into the Conference Center, where they could scare her on their own terms. However, the judge in this case was hostile to the plaintiff's efforts to do this (for obvious reasons considering the details of the suit as stated in the transcript--I got the impression that the computer wasn't even in her possession at the time she was accused of committing a copywrite violation!) and told him that if he was going to sue somebody he could do it in court instead of in some bullshit private meeting with a room full of fuckin' vampires.

I am also very fond of the part where Maschio tries to weasel it back to the Conference Center and the judge smacks him down.

EDIT:
Apparently some attorneys interested in striking back against the RIAA took up this case and they have a blog here.

[bilateralrope]

<snip>even if you win you will be bankrupted by legal fees.<snip>

And that is probably the main problem with the US legal system. I know some countries operate on a loser pays system, where if you win the case the other side gets stuck with all of the court fees (not sure about the fees for your lawyer, but I think the loser also gets stuck with them).

[Pablo Sanchez]

And that is probably the main problem with the US legal system. I know some countries operate on a loser pays system, where if you win the case the other side gets stuck with all of the court fees (not sure about the fees for your lawyer, but I think the loser also gets stuck with them).

Here's an interesting article on the subject that happened to be the first result on Google! Yay.

Briefly, the loser in a court case must pay the court and legal fees of the other. But, importantly, the loser doesn't always pay the entire cost. There are a panoply of factors that go into it. For example, if you win the case, but in the course of doing so you filed piles of frivolous time-wasting motions just to force the other party to incur additional fees, you're gonna pay for it.

There's more information in the article--another important one that I didn't know was that when you file suit for something, like a personal injury, you aren't allowed to claim any amount of money you feel like. If you claim a shitload, and only prove you deserve half of it, you pay. Imagine how much this would help in malpractice suits.

The reason we don't have this system here is probably because the ABA is the largest and most monied special interest policy group in America. The American culture of litigation simply couldn't survive in the European civil justice system.

[SAMAS]

You say that like it's a bad thing.