Re: unjustified legal threats

Kenneth Crews writes:
>
> In light of the recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in
> Fogerty v. Fantasy, plaintiffs may be more reluctant to file copyright
> lawsuits if a valid defense has a reasonable chance of succeeding.
> The Court ruled that while successful plaintiffs may seek recovery of
> attorney fees, so may successful defendants. Thus, an overreaching
> threat from a copyright owner may prove very costly to that plaintiff,
> if the defendant's claims of fair use, etc. are upheld.

I have been told by attorneys from most other industrial nations that fee shifting greatly reduces the number of copyright actions filed. In this country I favor fee shifting but it would make it much easier for the deep pockets to threaten the less affluent litigant - only the giants could afford to lose. One might ask why I favor fee shifting - I just think we waste too much money of inefficient dispute resolution. Of course, we could lower dispute resolution costs if we could redo out costly litigation system by curtailing discovery, eliminating jury trials in civil cases, etc. Finally, creating incentives for the use of alternative dispute resolution. But this is a lengthy discussion.

  Don Berman --  

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