Monday, April 27, 2009

In Andersen v. Atlantic class action,plaintiff moves for class certification,papers sealed by court,defendant moves for dismissal of case

In Andersen v. Atlantic Recording, the Oregon class action, the following events have taken place:

-the plaintiff has moved for class action certification;
-the entire record of the motion for class action certification has been placed under seal; and
-the defendants have moved for "judgment on the pleadings" dismissing the case on the basis of the Noerr Pennington doctrine.

Additionally, on February 9th, the Court conducted an "in camera" conference with the defendants' counsel only, regarding a discovery motion. The transcript of that conference is also sealed.

Notification that plaintiff's brief for class action certification has been sealed
Defendant's brief in support of motion for judgment on the pleadings

[Ed. note. Very strange goings-on. Don't ask me what it means; everything significant has been "sealed". Question: are we still in the United States? -R.B.]

Commentary & discussion:

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Keywords: lawyer digital copyright law online internet 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 intellectual property portable music player

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Certainly Noerr Pennington doesn't allow you to just sue anybody because you think they're breaking a law that affects you -- or that you can coerce them into handing over someone (an actual infringer) that you can't find on your own.

This man expects that you must present competent evidence -- evidence the common man would find competent -- and not just evidence that you, the Plaintiff, wish to believe in.

Otherwise the court system is one giant fishbowl.

{The Common Man Speaking}

RTP said...

You know their case is weak if they are STILL trying to get anyone to believe the laughable "Gotenkito" - "Dragonball Z" story.

I thought that hallucination of R. Gabriel's had died a long time ago.

Alter_Fritz said...

yes ray, you are!


the united states....


... of corporate interest over the law that is

If they had not made the judge put it under seal, you would have probably published the stuff on your "anti label, full of vitriolic hatred" blog and that could have mean more class defendants joining in.
The record labels had a hard enough time the last time when they had this little problem with the infection of people's computers with their malware on the audioCDs. and probably only because of their good connections they got away with a laughable compensation for the people.

And the thingy with the NY AG at the end of last year, that was probably something that had costed them much much bribery money to get away again.

A well informed public in yet another class action against them is the last thing those guys as defendants want!

Anonymous said...

"Question: are we still the United States?"Answer: Yes. It's full name is the United States of (the Recording Associations of) America or more commonly known as the USRAA.

Sorry for the sarcasm, but it just seems more and more these punks get their way and with the former RIAA attorneys showing up in the DOJ now . . .

Anonymous said...

Common Man -

"...you must present competent evidence..."

1) where is Atlantic's 'competent evidence' in their case against Anderson. And by competent, I include the technical issues: IP spoofing, the matchup between user and IP address, and the source of the files in question.

2) RIAA has announced that they have an ulterior motive behind filing all these lawsuits: informing the public. How does that fall within the stated purpose of the courts, and thereby make them not subject to noerr-pennington?

-Quiet Lurker

usagemayvary said...

please please please please get noerr pennington repealed, ray.

The world would thank you. That thing has been used as an excuse to lobby for everything in existence.

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering if the implications of the case are so monstrous that the Judge "freaked out" and ordered the case sealed pending further consideration.

The RIAA has essentially co-oped the Federal Judicial system into doing some pretty unsavory things, and the Judge may be (quite properly) concerned that this would reflect poorly on the legal profession and the judicial system.

2L student