Saturday, December 01, 2007

Northern Michigan University student "John Doe" moves to dismiss complaint, vacate ex parte order, quash supboena, in LaFace v. Does 1-5

A student at Northern Michigan University has moved to dismiss the complaint, vacate the ex parte discovery order, and quash the subpoena, in LaFace v. Does 1-5, in the Western District of Michigan, which sits in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Marquettte, Michigan.

The student, "John Doe #4", is represented by April Knoch of Pentiuk, Couvreur & Kobilkjak, in Wyandotte, Michigan.

Motion and Memorandum of Law to Dismiss Complaint, Vacate Order, and Quash Subpoena*

* Document published online at Internet Law & Regulation

Keywords: digital copyright online law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs






3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd have to say that the opponents to the RIAA are learning from each other the necessity to fight, and fight early. And also how to fight.

I always love seeing a request for sanctions, and have the fond hope that they will someday be granted - in a very large amount.

Regarding the frivolous nature of this claim, the RIAA should well know by now that universities are not cable providers as defined in the Cable Act of 1984. They should also know that the DMCA is their only route to subpoena power, and that they have not complied with its terms. This should make EVERY FUTURE CASE that the RIAA instigates against any group of college students frivolous, and subject to severe sanctions. It's just unfortunate that there are so many judges in this country that have yet to see the RIAA's previous actions when hit with the request for expedited discovery in an ex parte setting. The RIAA could continue on for a very long time until they are truly and properly slapped down for pursuing their cases in this manner. Clearly, judges do not talk to their fellow judges enough about boilerplate cases that may arrive in their own courtrooms.

I don't think that the RIAA should ever be able to make any claim of "irreparable injury" against any single filesharer. With known millions of filesharers around the world, and certainly hundreds to tens of thousands of copies of any single song available on multiple different networks at any given time, no single filesharer will ever make the difference in the availability or unavailability of any given sound recording. Hence, " irreparable injury" is an impossible claim to sustain, and the RIAA knows this fact each time it asserts is.

-CCO

Marc W. Bourgeois said...

Being a native of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and having visited Marquette and NMU several times, I'm quite happy to see someone there stand up to this.

It's also going to be quite the journey for the Detroit area attorney to make the trek up to the Northern Division courthouse to have motion heard :).

Anonymous said...

I believe all the RIAA suits in West Michigan are bieng handled through the Western District, Southern division in Kalamazoo. Michigan State University just got slapped too. You will be happy to know that NMU with its high tech history just rolled over on these kids. The remaining kids who did not settle have been sent Pre Litigation letters addressed to them. April is my hero.