p2p news / p2pnet: It’s been a while since our last post on the Patti Santangelo Fight Goliath campaign, but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening.

Patti was ill for a time (she’s fine now) and Jordan Glass, her new attorney, has been marshalling his resources and, “putting every spare moment he has into our case,” says Patti.

“Think of it as a 747 on the runway, powering up,” says Glass. “Patti and I started together in the middle of things and there’s much to do in terms of getting up to speed.”

A New York discovery hearing was held before Judge Mark D. Fox today with another slated for February 17, although that may be moved.

“The importance of the discovery procedure makes it a bit difficult to share what’s going on until it’s been presented presented to the judge,” Patti tells p2pnet. “But I hope that after this hearing, we’ll be able to give you a complete breakdown of all that has happened thus far.

“And there will be a lot more to come.”

This part of the case is, “primarily procedural and investigative,” explains Glass. “The part people see – the trial – is a few months away and is based upon the foundation we lay now. The discovery phase is when cases are ‘built’ – when they’re really’ won or lost. The trial is when all the preparatory work is presented. If Patti doesn’t build her case now, there will be nothing meaningful to present at trial.”

What exactly is discovery? Here’s how it works, he says:

Discovery, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, starting primarily with Rule 26: Discovery is a procedural tool for disclosing information, created with a public policy behind it. “Trial by surprise” is frowned upon, so the theory is that by both sides having all the information likely to be presented at trial (and even some information that can not be presented at trial), the obviousness of the result – or the risk to both sides – might persuade the parties to forge a settlement. When a settlement can be made, it saves everyone involved time, money, judicial resources (tax dollars), allows the parties to have certainty in their dealings, enables them to move on with the business of their lives instead of being mired in litigation, etc.

Both sides in civil litigation MUST “show their hands” (documents and other information) to each other prior to trial, with certain exceptions: some material is deemed privileged (such as the communications between attorney and client or the lawyer’s strategy of the presentation); some material is deemed irrelevant or outside the scope of the litigation, and the reasons vary from “fishing” for information relevant only to other cases to trying to uncover personal embarrassing information to paint a negative picture of one party or the other; some information is deemed unreliable (such as certain types of hearsay), and so while the material might be “discoverable,” it might not be presentable at trial (not everything can be presented at trial for additional reasons not presented here).

Discovery tools include: interrogatories (demands for written answers to questions); demands for the production and inspection of documents and other items (such as computers, audio tapes, video tapes, electronic information, such as e-mails, etc. – “documents” is a very broad term that includes most physical items (from entire buildings to particle samples) as well as electronic communications); demands for admissions (used to narrow the issues to be argued at trial); depositions of the parties — and of non-parties – to the action; the exchange of expert’s reports; and more.

Putting this material together invariably costs a huge amount, which is where the bulk of the money being raised in the Fight Goliath campaign will go.

Meanwhile, as of tomorrow, Fight Goliath will have an official New York campaign War Room which Patti and Glass will use to carry the battle forward. He’s already started contacting other defendants’ attorneys about pooling informational resources in a way that’s not been done so far – “at least that’s what they are reporting to me,” says Glass. “It should help in establishing some pressure in the other direction.”

Donations have started flowing in to the new snail-mail address (see below) and so far, $125 has come in from supporters in the US and Canada, and PayPal contributions have also arrived from Europe.

The money goes straight into escrow and Patti personally approves all outgoings and expenses.

Although the Fight Goliath battle centres in the US, the Big Four record labels are also attacking their customers around the world and what happens in the Santangelo case will have powerful and lasting international repercussions.

For anyone who’s new to this, the Big Four – Warner Music, Vivendi Universal, EMI and Sony BMG – are trying to blame downturns in sales created by bad business practices, out-dated sales and marketing models, inept management and other factors such as unpopular, over-priced, formulaic ‘product,’ competition from games, and so on, on counterfeiters and p2p file shares, collectively mis-characterized as ‘pirates’.

Some 60 million Americans have shared music with each other online, but the labels’ RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has so far only managed to victimize some18,000 – including children – as it attempts to use them as a means of bludgeoning online music lovers en masse into becoming consumers, using the mainstream media as its principal PR agents in a massive PR blitz.

Through their RIAA, the labels accuse file sharers of being thieves, although nothing has been stolen and no money has changed hands. It also says its sue ‘em all campaign has significantly reduced the numnber of people using the p2p networks, although the exact opposite is true and in fact, the bizarre campaign is doing far more to publicize the opportunities offered by the networks than to stop people from using them.

Not one of the 18,000 former record label customers pilloried to date has ever been before a judge or a jury, or has been found guilty of anything. A few – some 3,500 – have bought the RIAA off through extortionate out-of-court settlements but Patti, a New York mother with five children, refused to admit to doing something she didn’t do and instead became the first to take the labels on in open court.

The Fight Goliath campaign was organized to cover her legal expenses.

Patti started out with a big-name New York law firm, but is now represented by Glass, who runs a one-man practice without huge corporate office expenses to worry about.

As I write this, p2pnet readers have donated a total of USD $7,986.28 and, “The ability to continue the action at all is possible only because of the joint commitment of p2pnet readers and Patti’s fortitude,” says Glass.

Patti? “”I have to thank all of the p2pnet readers who’ve contributed to the Fight Goliath Campaign,” she says, also pointing out their support buoys her and gives her strength.

But more – a lot more – will be needed. Use the donate button, or the snail-mail address below it, to make a contribution. Help Patti, an ordinary mother with guts and dermination, but no financial resources, take on the greedy multi-billion-dollar Big Four record labels.

And if you’re thinking, Why should I bother? – bear this in mind. When Patti wins, you win.

If you’d rather mail your donation in —–

Patti Santangelo
C/O PO Box 274
Hartsdale
New York 10530-0274

Spread the word. Blog, post, use IM, emails, ICR, whatever. Contact your local tv / radio station / newspaper. Can you get something on slashdot? Can you get the Fight Goliath campaign on Digg or anywhere else?

Below is a list of the sites now carrying donation buttons, and under that are background links.

Cheers! And all the best. And thanks …..

• http://jasonrohrer.n3.net$2428.48
• http://p2pnet.net $1759.35
• http://boingboing.net $1149.48
• http://www.fightgoliath.org $898.98
• http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com $329.78
• http://www.downhillbattle.org $328.84
• http://www.p2pforum.it $165.41
• http://boycott-riaa.com $138.80
• http://www.p2pjihad.org/ $79.69
• http://virtualturntable.fourstones.net $72.22
• http://www.p2pnet.net $61.86
• http://www.bl0g.co.uk/ $47.75
• http://psx00.com $45.10
• http://www.azoz.com $42.79
• http://www.bizzarscripts.com $33.68
• http://www.yourmercifulgod.co.uk/ $28.89
• http://theangrywoodchuck.blogspot.com/ $24.04
• http://www.swissreporter.ch $21.49
• http://psg.com/ $19.12
• http://www.boycott-riaa.com $19.12
• http://www.tomb-of-nil.com $19.12
• http://www.xanga.com/badxmaru $19.12
• http://www.pod2peer.blogspot.com/ $18.92
• http://www.livejournal.com/users/obscure411 $14.45
• http://blog.andrlik.org $14.26
• http://www.annabet.com $14.11
• http://www.peteyp.com $9.60
• http://http://www.myspace.com/brizmo $9.41
• http://www.quiglag.com $9.41
• http://www.xnlb.com/ $5.65
• http://www.soundnet.co.uk/ $4.50
• http://bandnet.org/ $4.13
• http://www.pdmedia.org $2.61
• http://www.timcormier.com $2.31
• http://scattermall.com $0.67

Mother of 5 takes on Big Music – p2pnet Q&A with lawyer Ray Beckerman, August 28, 2005
RIAA victim talks to p2pnet – p2pnet Q&A with Patti Santangelo, September 4, 2005
The ‘We’re Not Taking Any More’ club – Patti isn’t the only who’s who’s had enough, September 17, 2005
Wanted: p2p tech experts – Santangelo’s lawyers aren’t impressed by RIAA ‘evidence,’ October 24, 2005
RIAA mass lawsuits ‘improper’ – Beckerman believes the RIAA oversteps the mark with mass subpoenas, November 21, 2005
1st RIAA trial: victim to defend herself – First news that Santangelo is on her own, December 6, 2005
Teens next RIAA victims – Just before Christmas, the Big Four decide Patti’s children might also make targets, December 23, 2005
Santangelo picks up steam – Forced to acknowledge the saga, the mainstream media finally pick it up, December 28, 2005
Tech expert hacks at RIAA evidence – Zi Mei sets out to debunk RIAA ‘technical’ evidence, December 29, 2005
Patti Santangelo fights Goliath: II – Patti says, ‘Thanks for the support,’ December 17, 2005
Patti Santangelo campaign launch! – It’s the last day of 2005 and the Fight Goliath campaign officially goes up, December 31, 2005
Sceptical about Patti Santangelo? – p2pnet columnist Alex H has a few thoughts for doubters, January 8, 2006
Patti Santangelo’s new lawyer – Jordan Glass enters the fray, February 6, 2006

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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local political representatives. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 at 11:15 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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