Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room
Judge skeptical of "torrent chaser" law firm's antics. Jail time threatened.
40hz:
Ok...the much anticipated order to show cause hearing mentioned earlier has come to pass. And it's truly amazing what can happen when you succeed in seriously angering a US federal district judge sitting in his official capacity.
It was a complicated day for Prenda Law and one of it's associates, an attorney by the name of Gibbs.
Rather than even attempt to recap it (because it's all so frakin' good) check out the write-ups provided by Popehat and ArsTechnica.
Here's a few quotes from Popehat:
Brett Gibbs Gets His Day In Court — But Prenda Law Is The Star
Mar 11, 2013 By Ken.
My past coverage of the Prenda Law saga is here.
There are few things more terrifying to a lawyer than a furious federal judge.
Today I saw one of those things.
It was a federal judge who was furious, intimately familiar with the case, and consummately prepared for the hearing.
Today United States District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II made it explicitly, abundantly, frighteningly clear that he believes the principals of Prenda Law have engaged in misconduct — and that he means to get to the bottom of it.
It was one of the most remarkable hearings I have ever witnessed.
--- End quote ---
Judge Wright Minces No Words
Judge Wright took the bench, grim and stentorian and bow-tied, and immediately commenced to take absolutely no shit from anybody. "I spent the whole weekend reading a deposition," he said, referring to the astounding deposition of Prenda principal Paul Hansmeier. "It is perhaps the most informative thing I have read in this affair so far." There was a collective intake of breath from the onlookers, who guessed that was not a good thing for Prenda Law. They were right. "There was so much obstruction in this deposition that it's obvious that someone has an awful lot to hide," Judge Wright commented later.
--- End quote ---
And here's a bit from the ArsTechnica article:
LOS ANGELES, CA—In a Los Angeles federal courtroom on a blindingly sunny Monday afternoon, US District Judge Otis Wright expressed incredulity at the sheer gall of the Prenda porn copyright trolling firm.
Judge Wright had ordered six other Prenda affiliates (or alleged affiliates) to show up in response to his order regarding possible sanctions for their behavior. None of those named parties showed up to the hearing in person, apart from Alan Cooper of Minnesota. (Cooper has alleged that Prenda attorney John Steele used Cooper's name improperly as the CEO of copyright licensing firm AF Holdings.) Lawyers Steele, Paul Hansmeier, Paul Duffy, and Prenda paralegal Angela Van Den Hemel had filed a notice on Friday saying that travel to the Central District Court of California was impossible for the out-of-state parties. Today, they were represented by another attorney who identified herself as Heather Rosing.
--- End quote ---
Judge Wright also angrily questioned Rosing about her clients’ failure to show up. When Rosing tried to speak on behalf of her clients, Wright told her that if they weren't present, he wasn't interested in hearing her talk about them.
--- End quote ---
This just keeps getting better and better. And it ain't over yet, folks. Not by a long shot. :Thmbsup:
TaoPhoenix:
Have we passed popcorn into "Dinner Theater" yet?
I mean, with all the shout outs to the regulars, these copyright trolls have barrelled along at a breakneck pace, going triple or nothing and winning by sheer bravado.
Maybe *for once* we have a judge that could deny their (probable?) motion to say "haha we were kidding, suit withdrawn" and impale them on a judicial crucifix, and set a precedent so far beyond crystal clear any other judge can apply it within say a couple of days in future cases?
40hz:
Maybe *for once* we have a judge that could deny their (probable?) motion to say "haha we were kidding, suit withdrawn"
-TaoPhoenix (March 12, 2013, 11:21 PM)
--- End quote ---
It's a little too late for Prenda to do that. Besides, as was explained in an earlier Popehat article:
On January 28, 2013, Prenda Law — still through Mr. Gibbs — filed a voluntary dismissal of Ingenuity 13 LLC's case against this particular John Doe. Federal plaintiffs can dismiss a case voluntarily without prejudice (that is, maintaining the right to bring it again) fairly freely. Generally a notice of dismissal is a form; Prenda's was a petulant swipe at Judge Wright...
.
.
.
But here's the thing: even when a plaintiff dismisses a case, a federal judge does not lose jurisdiction and power to inquire into the conduct of the attorneys and parties in the case. When a federal judge is angry at you, filing a dismissal is akin to dropping the red flag, backing away, and telling the charging bull "hey man — we cool, we cool." As we'll see, Judge Wright intended to exercise his power.
--- End quote ---
Nope. Far too late to just say "forget it" and walk away. This will have its due.
:Thmbsup:
TaoPhoenix:
Nope. Far too late to just say "forget it" and walk away. This will have its due.
-40hz (March 12, 2013, 11:38 PM)
--- End quote ---
Well this weird thing called "sanity" would seem to say that, but this disturbing world of IP seems to involve strange phone calls on the "turquoise line" that suddenly makes impossible things happen. (See the ACTA-CISPA thread where the stomping on rights just won't quit.)
Renegade:
Well this weird thing called "sanity" would seem to say that, but this disturbing world of IP seems to involve strange phone calls on the "turquoise line" that suddenly makes impossible things happen. (See the ACTA-CISPA thread where the stomping on rights just won't quit.)
-TaoPhoenix (March 13, 2013, 05:52 AM)
--- End quote ---
Interesting. I wonder how much the idea that these ideas have no physical manifestation has to do with it. After all, we're just talking about ideas... and you can't touch or feel an idea.
Just musing a bit there.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version