Coshocton pulls WiFi

An Ohio town discontinues its municipal WiFi network after MPAA lawyers rattle swords about a copyrighted movie that moved through the system. Andrew Moshirnia at Citizen Media Law explains. And (h/t reader CTrees) note that the town turned the system back on at Sony’s request, following a national outcry over the incident.

And at least somewhat relatedly: “Viacom’s top lawyer: suing P2P users ‘felt like terrorism'” [ArsTechnica]

Filed under: movies film and videos, Ohio, RIAA and file sharing

November 6 roundup

Shop worker prevails in U.K.: no need to pay music royalty fees for singing while stacking shelves [BBC]
Word arrives that Eric Turkewitz has been named a New York Super Lawyer, but he manages to control his enthusiasm [New York Personal Injury]
In which a columnist criticizes a post-election Tweet of mine, labels me “socially liberal libertarian” [Carney, DC Examiner; Roger Simon, “The Strange Case of NY-23”]
Plaintiff’s lawyers may bag $28 million in Wal-Mart wage/hour class actions [ABA Journal]
Contestant’s million-dollar suit against California pageant ends abruptly after surfacing of too-racy-to-post video [TMZ; irony-fraught background at Brayton and Good As You]
News bulletin: lawyers shouldn’t trade on inside information [Cunningham, Concur Op]
Possession, not just wrongful use: “L.A. Halloween Silly String Ban” [Volokh]
Video of man who runs giant soda pop store in L.A., includes his thoughts on recycling law and the way regulation often works to big businesses’ advantage against small [Boing Boing]

Filed under: attorneys' fees, RIAA and file sharing, small business, United Kingdom, wage and hour suits, Wal-Mart

August 18 roundup

Tiananmen Square events echo today in acrimonious defamation suit against filmmakers [Boston Globe]
Andrew Ferguson disrespectful toward David Kessler’s nanniferous book on obesity policy [Weekly Standard]
“Yes, People Dislike The RIAA Because Of Its Actions” [TechDirt]
The big difference race makes in medical school admissions [Discriminations, Mark Perry/Carpe Diem]
Texting, workplace flirtation and sexual harassment law [Forbes/MSNBC]
After real estate firm grabs and uses online pic, photographer finds satisfaction through small claims court [West Seattle Blog h/t @VBalasubramani]
Virginia: latest case seeking to open emotional-distress damages for death of pets gets help from former White House counsel Lanny Davis [WaPo, earlier]
Brazil police allege that host of true-crime TV series ordered killings to ensure good footage for the show [AP]

Filed under: Boston, Brazil, damages for animal companionship, harassment law, libel slander and defamation, movies film and videos, obesity, RIAA and file sharing, Virginia

August 10 roundup

Annals of legal marketing: law firm says its flyers offering to sue landlords over sexual assault on premises were left indiscriminately on car windshields, and it didn’t mean to target the woman who found it on hers and assumed it referred to her case [New Jersey Law Journal, Legal Blog Watch, Legal Ethics Forum]
“The Bankruptcy Files: Inside Michael Vick’s ‘Excessive’ Legal Bills” [AmLaw Daily]
Panel spanks U. of Illinois law school for admitting students at behest of politicos, but goes easy on the pols themselves [Ribstein, more, earlier here, here, here]
Youths who obtained big settlement in San Francisco Zoo tiger attack are having more encounters with the law [SF Chronicle, earlier]
Czech Republic: Suit by communist professor against critical students still in progress after 18 years [Volokh]
More thoughts on Florida lawmakers’ criminalization of purported gang signals, on MySpace and elsewhere [Citizen Media Law, earlier]
RIAA case: does the Constitution restrain unreasonable statutory damages? [Kennerly]
Eager law grad hoping to make a career of suing foodmakers over obesity [six years ago on Overlawyered]

Filed under: bankruptcy, chasing clients, damages, law schools, obesity, RIAA and file sharing, San Francisco

“Court orders Jammie Thomas to pay RIAA $1.92 million”

For sharing 24 songs [earlier]. A range of reactions: Ray Beckerman (believes case is headed for third trial), Max Kennerly (absurdly high damage awards happen more often when jury distrusts truthfulness of defendant), Amy Alkon (“Stealing from really, really rich people is still stealing”), Ron Coleman and more (case should prompt a reexamination of issue of statutory damages).

Filed under: damages, RIAA and file sharing

May 12 roundup

Florida: “Law firm is found liable for injuries to client who fell off a chair” [WPBF via Bernabe]
Monsanto, known for hardball litigation over its patented seeds, might regret taking on duPont [AmLaw Litigation Daily, earlier here and here]
Kenyan man sues women’s rights activists for leading sex boycott that his wife joined [Daily Nation]
Notice a “sign this EFCA petition” message in your Twitter stream, about the controversial card-check union bill? Better check out its bona fides [Point of Law]
RIAA said it was going to stop filing new cases against music downloaders, but that might depend on what the definition of new cases is [Ars Technica, AmLaw Litigation Daily]
EEOC guidance warns employers about violating ADA in trying to cope with H1N1 flu virus in workplace [Daniel Schwartz, Workplace Prof Blog; related, earlier]
Cluelessness, more than censor’s urge, might explain that ghastly bill filed by Rep. Linda Sanchez to combat “cyberbullying” by throttling online speech [Jacob Sullum; earlier here, etc.]
Buxom British gals claim victory after Marks & Spencer rescinds $3 surcharge on larger-size bras [AP/Idaho Statesman, The Sun via Amy Alkon]

Filed under: card check, communicable disease, patent litigation, RIAA and file sharing, Twitter, United Kingdom

“Consumer Interest Groups Ask Obama To Stop Appointing RIAA Lawyers”

Well, good luck with that.

Filed under: Barack Obama, copyright, RIAA and file sharing

Toward final victory against hooligan listeners!

Comrades of the recording industry! RIAA has overfulfilled glorious five-year lawsuit production plan! [Patrick/SSFC at Popehat]

Filed under: RIAA and file sharing

Microblog 2008-12-25

You really shouldn’t be reading this. You haven’t even played with the nice new toys Santa brought you.

Not so fast! According to Ray Beckerman, the lawyer the RIAA loves to hate, the RIAA is still clogging the courts with file-sharing suits, and shows no signs of stopping;
Matthew Yglesias gets paid to blog. I don’t. Matthew Yglesias has a huge audience. I don’t (this week is an exception). Matthew Yglesias can say almost anything he wants to say. I can say anything I want to say. I think I have the better deal;
The astonishing Christmas light display of Leon and Ann Paschal (last year’s version – this year’s was bigger);
Will the New York Times be the next major company to ask for a bailout? Perhaps if the paper reported news rather than burying it…
In what must be a record for one day, Wal-Mart settles 63 wage-and-hour class actions;
At what point will lawsuits challenging Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as President be sanctioned as frivolous? Here comes another one;
Thoughts on the constitutionality of revoking the pardon to real estate fraud artist Isaac Toussie. It depends on what the meaning of the word “issued” is.
Is “mark of the beast” litigation the next big thing? Hilarious;
Eartha Kitt, who had the sexiest voice on earth, has passed away. (Via folo).

Now go play with your toys.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Christmas and other holidays, New York Times, RIAA and file sharing, Wal-Mart

“Music industry to abandon mass suits”

It might bring to an end the public relations nightmare of the Recording Industry Association of America, and it should certainly cut down on the number of future legal nightmares endured by bewildered parents, grandparents and other bystanders who’ve been getting sued because their kid used the family computer to visit a music-sharing service at 1 a.m. P.S.: CNet has a copy of the enforcement notice RIAA is planning to send to ISPs instead.

Filed under: RIAA and file sharing