eon

palfrey deposition01

and then i twittered

and when we came back from the break oppenheim objected. sorry i didn’t get my recorder back on for his words. the recording picks up with palfrey asking for clarification of the publication constraints he is under.

after my tweet

Forwarded conversation
Subject: radiohead
————————

From: Charles Nesson
Date: Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 10:06 AM
To: Isaac Meister , Matthew Sanchez , Anna Volftsun , Debbie Rosenbaum

would each of you please write me an account of our meeting with brian message
my recorder malfunctioned

———-
From: Anna Volftsun
Date: Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 10:53 AM
To:  nesson at law.harvard.edu

Professor Nesson,

I dont remember the exact details, but the gist of it was:
He talked about how the UK is moving towards an alternate model of music distribution (from BPI, which is their version of the RIAA). This model does not involve record labels at all and encourages, or at least allows, file-sharing. He mentioned working with an artists organization of about 200 groups. The UK is currently soliciting reactions and opinions on its proposal to amend the copyright laws. The matter was put to a vote in the artists organization and they almost unanimously voted to allow file-sharing rather than have it be penalized by copyright law.

–

To: Cary Sherman

hi cary,

thanks for your note. i don’t really understand why you are continuing the litigation, but if that’s your position then i ask you to agree to our motion, just filed, to admit internet to the courtroom, and then to join with me in making the trial the best possible example of civil discourse within the rules of federal civil procedure.

happy holidaze
best to you and family from me and fern

listen

From: Cary Sherman
Date: Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 3:09 PM
Subject: FW: AP: Music industry drops effort to sue song swappers
To: Charles Nesson

Hi Charlie.

Saw your comments in the AP story below. I hope you understand that we can’t just walk away from cases we’ve filed. Doesn’t mean we want to litigate everything, we’d obviously prefer not to. If you have any thoughts on a resolution, I’d be all ears.

Sorry I couldn’t tell you months ago that we were getting out of the lawsuits, but I’m sure you understand.

I hope you have a great holiday (and don’t have to spend the holidays working, now that you’re a litigator!).

Please give my best to Fern.

Cary

Music industry drops effort to sue song swappers

By RYAN NAKASHIMA – 27 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The group representing the U.S. recording industry said Friday it has abandoned its policy of suing people for sharing songs protected by copyright and will work with Internet service providers to cut abusers’ access if they ignore repeated warnings.

The move ends a controversial program that saw the Recording Industry Association of America sue about 35,000 people since 2003 for swapping songs online. Because of high legal costs for defenders, virtually all of those hit with lawsuits settled, on average for around $3,500. The association’s legal costs, in the meantime, exceeded the settlement money it brought in.

The association said Friday that it stopped sending out new lawsuits and warnings in August, and then agreed with several leading U.S. Internet service providers, without naming which ones, to notify alleged illegal file-sharers and cut off service if they failed to stop.

It credited the lawsuit campaign with raising awareness of piracy and keeping the number of illegal file-sharers in check while the legal market for digital music took off. With two weeks left in the year, legitimate sales of digital music tracks soared for the first time past the 1 billion mark, up 28 percent over all of last year, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

“We’re at a point where there’s a sense of comfort that we can replace one form of deterrent with another form of deterrent,” said RIAA Chairman and Chief Executive Mitch Bainwol. “Filing lawsuits as a strategy to deal with a big problem was not our first choice five years ago.”

The new notification program is also more efficient, he said, having sent out more notices in the few months since it started than in the five years of the lawsuit campaign.

“It’s much easier to send notices than it is to file lawsuits,” Bainwol said.

The decision to scrap the legal attack was first reported in The Wall Street Journal.

The group says it will still continue to litigate outstanding cases, most of which are in the pre-lawsuit warning stage, but some of which are before the courts.

The decision to press on with existing cases drew the ire of Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson, who is defending a Boston University graduate student targeted in one of the music industry’s lawsuits.

“If it’s a bad idea, it’s a bad idea,” said Nesson. He is challenging the constitutionality of the suits, which, based on the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999, can impose damages of $150,000 per infringement, far in excess of the actual damage caused.

Nesson’s client, Joel Tenenbaum, faces the possibility of more than $1 million in damages for allegedly downloading seven songs illegally, which Nesson called “cruel and unusual punishment.” The case is set to go to trial in district court in Massachusetts on Jan. 22.

Brian Toder, a lawyer with Chestnut & Cambronne in Minneapolis, who defended single mother Jammie Thomas in a copyright suit filed by the RIAA, said he is also set to retry the case March 9 after a judge threw out a $222,000 decision against her.

“I think it’s a good thing that they’ve ended this campaign of going after people,” Toder said.

“But they need to change how people spend money on records,” he said. “People like to share music. The Internet makes it so easy. They have to do something to change this business model of theirs.”

–

——
when appropriate (in my judgment) to an open project and not sensitive (in my judgment) in terms of privacy, i may post email to my blog. all privacy requests respected.

From: Joel Tenenbaum
Date: Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 8:52 AM
Subject: [cyberone-riaa] [Fwd: riaa]

Interesting…

“Indeed, many in the music industry felt the lawsuits had outlived their
usefulness.”

so early investors take $50 billion from late investors, minus madoff’s company costs, philanthropy and what he took out for himself

the early investors in ponzi schemes give them their credibility
others are then let in on their profits and their cache

jamaica has been similarly hit, with ponzi schemes styled for both rich and poor, olints and cash plus

poor people put their savings in because they have no other way to make money
same with rich people, sort of

Power plays by the rules only when it suits its purpose
Now the court in Oregon is realizing it has some
Including the power to put their reality back in the face of authority
Power we think comes from on top
Power comes from within

Here’s an article in the new york times about Breyer listening and hearing what the Oregon judges are saying, speaking in their lawyer’s language about instructions to the jury, and Souter asking core questions.

Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon
gotta love it

adam liptak

and then Roberts batting clean-up
where’s he from
home run

“Is there a way for us to ensure against a bad-faith response to our decision?”
Justice Souter asked. Chief Justice Roberts had an answer. Get to the issue at the core so that our decision earns respect. The Supreme Court has no troops to enforce its judgments on lower courts. Supreme Court authority is respect for law, which starts with judges understanding the true source of their power.

where is a transcript of this magnificent exchange
where is the audio/video
why do i not have this to teach to my class

today’s a busy day
here’s from matt:

Charlie,