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Print E-mail del.icio.us 30 comment(s) - last by Lakku.. on May 8 at 12:18 AM

Florida judge not amused, already told them once

A Florida judge denied an RIAA attempt to dismiss counterclaims filed against it in Atlantic v. Boyer yesterday, allowing all six of the complaints to proceed.

Last month, defendant Eva Boyer filed six counterclaims in response to a standard RIAA copyright-infringement suit filed against her by Atlantic, Warner Bros., UMG, and Sony BMG. She accused the RIAA of civil conspiracy, computer fraud, trespass, deception, extortion, and abuse of process – and each claim was upheld by United States District Judge Richard A. Lazzara.

Recording Industry vs. The People notes that Boyer’s claims are nearly identical to the five out of six surviving claims filed against the RIAA in UMG v. Del Cid, which settled in October of last year. Coincidentally, Atlantic v. Boyer and UMG v. Del Cid share the same presiding judge, in addition to the same counsel for both the plaintiffs and the defendant.

Writing on Slashdot, Vandenberg & Feliu, LLP attorney Ray Beckerman, who coauthors Recording Industry vs. The People, says he underestimated the RIAA’s “chutzpah” for filing the same motion to dismiss a second time:

“I opined that ‘it is highly unlikely that the RIAA will make a motion to dismiss counterclaims,’ since I knew they'd be risking sanctions if they did,” wrote Beckerman under his alias, NewYorkCountryLawyer. “In essence [they] thumbed their nose at the judge, making the dismissal motion anyway.”

In its motion to dismiss, one of the RIAA’s claims (PDF) argued that Lazzara’s prior ruling in UMG v. Del Cid was “wrongly decided,” accusing the court of failing to heed proper burdens of proof, citing revised standards in Twombly v. Bell Atlantic. Lazzara disagreed, noting that a review of the case, and its resulting order, “reflects otherwise.”

Seemingly annoyed with the RIAA’s repeat claims, Lazzara denied the RIAA’s motion to dismiss the morning after it was filed – going so far as to tell Boyer to not worry about filing a response:

“Because the Court has previously resolved all of the issues raised in Plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss,” wrote Lazzara, “and because the Court is not convinced that its prior decision was wrong, the Court needs no response from Defendant and the motion is due to be denied.”

The RIAA has ten days to answer Boyer’s counterclaims.



Comments     Threshold


Our Hero
By MrBlastman on 5/7/2008 9:20:42 AM , Rating: 5
That judge is our Hero. Finally a voice of reason in the courtroom to stand against the RIAA.

Oh, and the picture is perfect :)




RE: Our Hero
By DASQ on 5/7/2008 10:47:08 AM , Rating: 3
He was an hero!

Nevar forget!


RE: Our Hero
By Mitch101 on 5/7/2008 10:52:47 AM , Rating: 5
I agree but I think this is more of a Florida Judge who who is paying attention and listening to details that does his job very well by seeing through the BS and understanding the root issues of the case. This one obviously does.

This Florida Judge obviously has a brain behind him and makes a lot of his peers look like there must be a lot of stupid/biased/careless in the field of Judging. I guess IT isn't the only field that receives dead weight and its good to see a Qualified Judge in the field handling such an important case.


RE: Our Hero
By Denigrate on 5/7/2008 1:21:11 PM , Rating: 4
Who appointed this guy? I mean come on, a Judge with common sense? We need to get the person who appointed him to do a review of the rest of our judges and clean house.


RE: Our Hero
By Mitch101 on 5/7/2008 1:33:48 PM , Rating: 3
I agree maybe video taping/broadcasting to local TV in court rooms should be mandatory this way we can crack down on bad Judges who let personal influence get in the way of upholding the laws.


RE: Our Hero
By Johnniewalker on 5/7/2008 2:34:18 PM , Rating: 5
In 1997 he was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as a United States District Judge.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_A._Lazzara


RE: Our Hero
By Omega215D on 5/7/2008 5:18:19 PM , Rating: 1
Who ironically signed into law the DMCA. ;P

Still a good call compared to the judges appointed by our own curious george.


RE: Our Hero
By chrispyski on 5/7/2008 4:38:13 PM , Rating: 2
I gotta hand it to you DT, you have the best thumbnail images ever...

I mean, Statler and Waldorf, perfect picture!

(And yes, I am slightly ashamed that I remember their names)


Beautiful!
By nvalhalla on 5/7/2008 9:31:11 AM , Rating: 5
I'm loving all these RIAA stories recently! I love nothing more than whena judge puts an abusive company in it's place. They saunter into courtrooms thinking "open and shut" because they have little need to prove their case and overwhelmingly larger defenses and coffers. It's worked, for a few years. Now we are finally seeing people stand up to them and judges willing to listen. I am pleased.




RE: Beautiful!
By eye smite on 5/7/2008 10:10:37 AM , Rating: 1
Yes, this is a rare case where democracy wins over capitolism. Usually it's the other way around in this country now days. Basically we live in a Capitolist Dictatorship. lol


RE: Beautiful!
By MrBlastman on 5/7/2008 10:13:57 AM , Rating: 2
Do we have to bring politics into everything?

Last time I checked, America is a Republic. I don't see the Senate nor the Congress doing everything teh G.Dubya says to do...


RE: Beautiful!
By djkrypplephite on 5/7/08, Rating: -1
RE: Beautiful!
By odessit740 on 5/7/2008 10:56:51 AM , Rating: 2
Are you a moron? Try comparing the US to a real dictatorship, not a Republic where power is decentralized between 3 branches. Go study Russian history and perhaps some recent history of Iraq before you make bullshit claims. Democracy is a political system where capitalism is an economic one, its like comparing apples to oranges.

I'm very pleased to hear how the judge handled this and hope that the defendent will be able to rip the RIAA of millions for their strong arm tactics and invasion of privacy.


RE: Beautiful!
By eye smite on 5/7/08, Rating: -1
RE: Beautiful!
By odessit740 on 5/7/2008 11:06:02 AM , Rating: 2
If you can't realize that you will most definitely start a debate with such comments, then idiot=you. Everyone knows what corporations do, how they try to control and influence politics, if they didn't then someone else would, its just natural. But blaming capitalism is stupid. History shows the capitalism > communism, capitalism > socialism, capitalism > authoritarianism. Most of the people know all about the evils of corporations and corporate america, they just don't need to bitch and whine about it with every post.


RE: Beautiful!
By eye smite on 5/7/08, Rating: -1
RE: Beautiful!
By Denigrate on 5/7/2008 1:19:25 PM , Rating: 5
Short. Bus. Rider.

You eat up propaganda from your prefered crap flingers and think that the rest of us are morons because we can't see the "brilliance" of your flawed positions.

You might try thinking for yourself someday. At that time, you'll see that no one side has all the answers.


Is it just me or...
By jeff834 on 5/7/2008 1:53:55 PM , Rating: 3
Does Recording Industry vs. The People pretty much sum up everything the RIAA stands for? In an age when artists can create, manage, and distribute their work themselves with computers and the internet, isn't the RIAA absolutely and completely useless? Next thing you know someone will record a song at home by themselves, it will become really popular, and the RIAA will sue people for downloading it even though they have nothing to do with the artist whatsoever just because they think they are the gods of music.




RE: Is it just me or...
By MrBlastman on 5/7/2008 2:11:51 PM , Rating: 2
I think it is entirely feasible that an artist can succeed without the RIAA and their in-store distribution system (along with advertising). However, I think that a great deal of luck will also be required to achieve any sort of wide spread recognition. With media delivery tools such as youtube, message boards, forums, blogs etc., it is not impossible, but I imagine seeing this happen through the use of these mediums some time in the future.


RE: Is it just me or...
By TomCorelis (blog) on 5/7/2008 2:42:14 PM , Rating: 2
Not to mention, it takes a great deal of cash to match the production values that the mainstream is used to. Oftentimes artists don't have the $5000 to spend on high-end synths (they're used everywhere nowadays), or $2000 to spend on the basic Pro Tools setup, or the who-knows-how-much it takes to hire a high-quality mastering engineer. Traditionally the record labels put up this cash. And all this has nothing to do with distribution and promotion.

I've heard artists who spent time on both sides of the production conundrum, and there is DEFINITELY a noticeable difference in the quality of their music when they've gone through the proper production process. Example: VNV Nation.


RE: Is it just me or...
By MrBlastman on 5/7/2008 3:23:02 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, the costs alone I think are the second part of the duo of biggest barriers to any success for musicians. People like Trent Reznor can succeed due to the fact they a