Reflections on Judge Gertner’s Ruling
So you may have noticed recent news stories about Joel’s case. Judge Gertner made a ruling. Although the jury had already decided back in July, nothing was official until Judge Gertner submitted her ruling.
Confused? Here’s the gist:
1) The judgment from July 31st was formally entered. This had to occur before we could move on to the appeals process. We do plan to ask the judge to adjust the amount and file a motion for a new trial.
2) Regarding a request that the court prohibit Joel from “promoting” illegal downloading, Judge Gertner stated that Joel has the right to free speech under the First Amendment and that the court has neither the “intent nor the authority” to police what Joel says.
3) Judge Gertner defended her dismissal of our fair use defense, but added that a fair use defense which emphasized more mitigating factors like the music purchased over the time period in question could be a viable defense to try.
4) Judge Gertner again implored Congress to change the copyright laws that are routinely threatening “teenagers and students with astronomical penalties for an activity whose implications they may not have fully understood.”
Good summaries are available at ComputerWorld, Wired, and — our team’s favorite critic: Ben Sheffner’s blog.
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How do you all feel about Judge Gertner’s criticism of your work defending Mr. Tenenbaum? She said that you mounted a “truly chaotic defense,’’ missing deadlines, ignoring rules, and tape-recording opposing counsel and the judge at pretrial hearings and legal proceedings without permission? She seems to suggest that she gave you every possible opportunity to mount a defense - but you failed to do so. Will you all be representing Mr. Tenenbaum on appeal? Yikes.
What I want to know, is why the business model which the RIAA is defending here is not being taken into account. There is an absolutely terrible precedent being setup here that does not take into account that the Music Industry has basically left itself out to dry, with no way of managing copyrighted digital media over the web (or generating appropriate revenues except through technological innovations from 3RD PARTIES), and somehow blames internet users for …. getting music they want in more quick/convenient manners than they themselves provide? This is an absurd precedent. It’s no one’s fault but their own that they have run out of creative ways to make money. Proof positive: Leveraging fees on the Radio Industry for PERFORMANCE ROYALTIES? Talk about trying to get blood from a turnip. Radio’s been slowly dying since the mid 90s and shows no signs of return in an economically viable format. Good Luck suing the poor, Music Industry! We’ll be waiting here in the FUTURE when you decide to stop being lazy/uncreative and tune your business model to address current modes of technology and real consumer needs again.
Assessing the cash flow is another important element within the company technique format, so as to sustain a regular cash flow to meet the essential capital requirements. Probability of monetary crisis and also the ways of crisis management should be pointed out in the structure. The business strategy must consist of the marketing plans and strategy leading to the expansion from the organization.
The industry has failed the adapt. They won’t be coming to the future. They will DIE. Trust me. They won’t adapt. They’re too proud.
john, i guess joel isn’t going to win this one. the riaa gets a pyrrhic victory in this battle. we the consumers will have a glorious tiriumph in this war of attrition.