From the continuing story of a corrupt and anti-consumer media establishment bureaucracy attempting to legislate profits.
Techdirt: If You're Going To Sue For Copyright Infringement, First Make Sure You Own The Copyright : Shawn Hogan has received plenty of attention in the last year for his decision to fight the MPAA over the lawsuit they filed against him, claiming he had shared the movie Meet the Fockers via a file sharing program. The problem? Hogan didn't actually share the movie, has never downloaded it, and actually owns the DVD of the movie in question. The MPAA made it clear that if he just paid them $2,500, they would forget the whole thing -- which certainly has the feel of extortion. So, Hogan decided to fight the case in court to prove they were wrong, and said he wouldn't let them back out and run like they've done in other cases....
The explanation is a little confusing, but it appears that there are two separate organizations involved: Universal City Studios Productions LLLP and Universal City Studios LLLP (you can see why this gets confusing). The first (we'll call them “Productions”) is the one who sued Hogan. However, it was the other (“plain old Studios”) who filed the copyright registration. So, in preparing for the case, Hogan and his lawyers went looking for proof that plain old Studios had transferred the copyright to Productions -- which they got. The problem, however, is that the notice transferring the rights happens to occur two months before plain old Studios actually registered the copyright. In other words, they handed over the rights before they even got them -- making the whole thing a bit of a mess.
Doh!
More info at the Recording Industry vs The People, a blog devoted to the RIAA's lawsuits of intimidation brought against ordinary working people.
I did something to my template, and haven't figured out what or why yet. Any weirdness can be blamed on all the vials of Denver meth I found in my bible, or something. It's beer o'clock, so won't be able to look until tomorrow. If there isn't anything weird appearing on your screen, hmmmm, maybe I did inhale?
comment works.