Obama hires another RIAA lawyer
p2pnet news view Politics | RIAA News:- Things just got a lot worse over in Obamaland.
Or better, if you happen to be Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US).
Regular readers will remember the name Donald Verrilli (right). He’s a Jenner and Block employee named by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the top 100 ‘Power Lawyers’ in the entertainment industry, bragged J&B.
In Excess Copyright, Canadian copyright lawyer Howard Knopf notes Verrilli “fought and won the Grokster case for the music industry in the US Supreme Court”.
He also fought and lost the Jammie Thomas case, the only one of the thousands of RIAA allegations of “illegal file sharing” (there is no such crime) to have made it into a civil courtroom, and which is slated for retrial.
And now Verrilli has been named associate deputy attorney general, says Knopf, crediting Michael Geist.
He goes on »»»
This follows the recent appointment of Tom Perrelli of the same firm as associate attorney general.
This also follows the appointment of Neil MacBride of the BSA, who was the person responsible for the BSA’s highly successful but ethically troubling “snitch” reporting program that encourages disgruntled employees to find and report illegally installed software with a view towards retribution and reward.
This makes three appointments to senior DOJ positions of very competent and potentially very hawkish enforcers who have served the music, motion picture and software industries very well indeed.
Does this portend a greater policy and/or enforcement role for DOJ in IP?
Will we see the appointment of someone with a record of serving the user side or the public interest side in IP?
Or do these three strikes now establish a pattern to be continued?
Anyone who believes avowed RIAA supporter and US vice president Joe Biden didn’t have a hand in this must be in living in LaLa land.
Based in Ottawa, Knopf has been lead counsel on legal challenges both at the Copyright Board and in the Courts against the excesses of the music industry establishment. He’s regularly quoted in the mainstream media and acted against the CRIA in the file sharing litigation, and continues to act against the CPCC, in which the CRIA is still a major stakeholder, on the levy front.
Stay tuned and while you’re waiting, you might want to check out catflap’s post in Barack Obama’s record to date.
Jon Newton - p2pnet
February , 2009
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February 4th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
You know what is scary? This might be a sign of the way things are going to go in other areas.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
This is the CHANGE we got with Obama!
It would not be better with McCain.
The government, the senate, the house, they are all corrupt beyond repair.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:09 am
YA ironically McCain also made news be trying to get rid of the anti free trade law they passed with the stimulus that will actually make american products MUCH more expensive.
he wanted the clause removed and they did soften it.
and remember that Hollywood vice president, here it comes people look around at the administration , slowly your seeing him sneak them in here and there.
nothing like a bunch a twits running the country who would sue there own customers and have lawyers they in my opinion are as bad as people that pray on young children. YUP they intentionally will victimize your kids just like a rapist (mental abuse however not physical )
What we need ot do here is actually get more and more people to go where they post goto there blogs and make out voices heard , we need ot get the lead out and get right damn loud about it.
If you started telling my kid lies and having him being propagandized , id want to punch you righ tthe hell out, school is for education not some bunch a queer fruit a the loop actors to tell my kid whats right and wrong. That’s the parents job and if you want to say different then FRAK YOU TOO.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Changes you can believe in. LOL
February 5th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Being in the DOJ, he will be able to see the damage done from corporations who sued people they knew were innocent. It is illegal to sue a person you knew to be innocent then gain from such a suit. As a person sued falsely by Directv, the DOJ was asked several times to investigate the false suit. DOJ had no interest at all. What comes around here is that when I am called for jury duty, I will be ignoring Justice just like justice did to me. Jury nullification is not a good thing but it is even worse when Justice ignores a crime victim. It is worse when Justice supports falsified lawsuits by companies like Directv and the RIAA. Justice should never support someone filing a lawsuit they know to be false and then profiting from it.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Like I said on the other post
Presidents or politicians r not the answer. The answer is to start a community that pressures our government to do what we say or they be impeached.
Thatâs why I started USWGO is to vote on issues the democratic way.
Social Viability: Donât fight/attack the system, replace it!
Thats why I made that website and hosted it on one of my vacant domains.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
and this is relevant to why Obama will never be the solution.
Try socialviability or uswgo.hyipo.net. I must bring direct democracy to the internet so we can force our lying and coniving policitians to do what the people say or be impeached.
February 11th, 2009 at 6:53 am
I think this is fairly good news. The worse thing would be to soften the copyright regime as that then extends its duration. Far better to harden it with the strongest hardliners until it becomes so brittle it will shatter the next time it gets knocked (as inevitably will happen).
There may be a question as to whether this is Obama’s intended strategy, but it probably doesn’t matter if we ever find out. The important thing is that the population have their liberty restored sooner rather than later (even if there will be a preceding period of draconian suspension).