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Matt Oppenheim, the RIAA’s infamous self-described ‘Dentist’ and senior vp of business and legal affairs, will be leaving the “extractions” to others shortly, as he joins the lawfirm of Jenner and Block, Andy Jordan tells us.

The National Law Journal in 2001 described Oppenheim as a “music warrior for the industry,” says a puff piece from his new employers, going on to quote RIAA president Cary Sherman as saying:

“While we are disappointed that Matt is leaving, we are delighted that he will be joining the firm of Jenner & Block where we will continue to rely on him.”

Famous quote – The “Fourth Amendment does not apply to (the RIAA)” in regards to the lawsuits filed by the RIAA against filesharers.

Now read on >>>>>>>>>>>

RIAA Dentist Leaves a Cavity!
By Andy Jordan

Despite the rosy picture painted in the press release, one has to wonder why Oppenheim would choose to leave the RIAA now if their scorched-earth litigation policy really has been even a tenth as successful as they have been claiming. And why would he only be hired as a partner at Jenner & Block, not a Senior Partner; why only as a “member of the Firm’s Entertainment and New Media Practice,” and not its leader?

The RIAA farms out most of the litigation, and Oppenheim tossed plenty of easy money Jenner and Block’s way from the RIAA. This doesn’t read like a move up for Oppenheim; it doesn’t seem to be the kind of position that would attract someone who clawed his way up the litigation ladder to lead the RIAA’s draconian legal assault.

What kind of career move is this for someone took obvious pride and pleasure from rolling over college students, 12-year-olds, retirees, single moms, and anyone else not in a position to mount the kind of expensive defense his monstrous lawsuits would require? We find it hard to believe that Oppenheim would have sought this particular new job voluntarily.

As much as we would like to think that Oppenheim’s departure foreshadows a change of heart at the RIAA, we think it’s premature to break out the champagne just yet.

We were unfortunate enough to have first-hand experience of Oppenheim’s temper tantrums and foul-mouthed threats when the RIAA sued our son Jesse Jordan back in April.

Behind all the bluff and bluster, there apparently was a lot of piss-poor lawyering going on at the RIAA. It seemed to us that no one was really minding the store, no one paying attention to the details.

When Jesse went on CNN and told Bill Hemmer that the RIAA’s attempts at intimidation wouldn’t work and he expected to have his search engine back online within a few days, Oppenheim went ballistic and claimed that Jesse had violated the Injunction they had against him.

But the RIAA had no such injunction … what they had was a Dismissal agreement that clearly stated that Jesse could resume running his search engine, so long as he took reasonable steps to avoid infringing on their copyrights.

Aside from describing himself to Jesse as “a dentist you don’t ever want to have to visit again,” Oppenheim tried to have the court throw out the agreement and replace it with an injunction and a gag order, and even had the outside lawfirm they hired in Albany sign a letter to the judge claiming Jesse had “tricked” the RIAA’s lawyers into signing a Dismissal instead of the Injunction they intended to sign! To our relief, the Judge saw through the blatant lies and entered the Dismissal as initially submitted to the court.

Through the ordeal, a few of us got a shocking dose of Oppenheim’s foul temper and questionable judgement, and it seemed only a matter of time before another screw-up would cause him to lose his temper with the wrong person. That may have finally happened. In any case, the prediction of one of Jesse’s legal advisers is a bit closer to coming true; after one of Oppenheim’s X-rated outbursts, he said to Oppenheim, “Jesse will become a national hero, and you’ll be out in the street!”

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2004 at 8:31 pm 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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