RIAA Receives Stern Letter, Folds

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In SONY BMG v. Merchant, in California, the defendant's lawyer wrote the RIAA a rather stern letter recounting how weak the RIAA's evidence is, referring to the deposition of the RIAA's expert witness (see Slashdot commentary), and threatening a malicious prosecution lawsuit. The very same day the RIAA put its tail between its legs and dropped the case, filing a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal. About an hour earlier NYCL had termed the letter a 'model letter'; maybe he was right."

MAFIAA

[User 956]

The very same day the RIAA put its tail between its legs and dropped the case, filing a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal.

Maybe now they'll start resorting to more traditional methods for people in their business. Like severed horse heads at the foot of your bed.

Transcript from the lawyer's office

[Anonymous Coward]

Secretary: Sir, this letter says no.

Lawyer #1: Excuse me? It says no what?

Secretary: It says no, they're not going to pay up, and that our evidence is weak.

Lawyer #2: Damn, they've got us on that one.

Lawyer #1: Time to give up I suppose.

Re:itsatrap

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry, what part of "congress" don't you understand?

congress (kng'grs)
n. ...
5. Sexual intercourse.

(That's "getting fucked" for those of you following along at home.)

damn straight, this is a model defense !!

[swschrad]

translated to "street," it basically says

"Yo, Vinnie, youse working on your own here, and the CourtFather is VERY displeased with how youse is conducting yourself. And you didn't even ask to work this dock. The CourtFather is having a meeting with your Consigliore. Maybe youse should go home while you can."

Re:itsatrap

[thc69]

No, you've got it all wrong. See, it's a compound word. "Con" being the opposite of "pro", and "gress" meaning improvement, "congress" is therefore against improvement. Or, possible, it is a gress made up of "cons", short for "convicts"...there are probably quite a few of those...

Re:Transcript from the lawyer's office

[cyphercell]

That was awesome, you should write comics for the newspaper. Wait a minute, you should do a site that does comics that coincide with slashdot stories. (sorry, I've been on ideastorm.com all day)

Who is Stern?

[mrbluze]

RIAA Receives Stern Letter, Folds

.. then unfolds and reads again, to find said Letter is in fact an invitation to appear on the Howard Stern show. Oh my! I think they are going to get seriously screwed this time.. probably by an automated device no less!

Re:hang on - *without* prejudice?

[0123456789]

IANAL, so I turn to wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:

If you ever actually need a lawyer, I sincerely hope you look somewhere other than wikipedia.
If not, I have a business opportunity in Nigeria you might be interested in...

Re:That's not what they'll win Congress with, no..

[ShaunC]

Which is why we have the Mickey Mouse copyright extension named after Bono, the worthless AHRA, the easily abused DMCA and the obnoxious NET Act, as well as whatever laws I haven't heard of yet.

Dude, I was totally with you until you dissed the American Hot Rod Association. Certainly you must realize that they're one of the most well-respected drag racing organizations in the world. It amazes me that you would lump such a geeky, gear-headed organization amongst your legitimate complaints about ridiculous copyright laws! Personally, I wish that Sonny Bono had been involved in a real crash, AHRA style, instead of colliding with a tree. Everyone knows that real drivers crash other drivers, only drunks crash into trees.

Re:itsatrap

[Anonymous Coward]

You think the fact that they bring frivolous lawsuits against helpless people is going to help them with Congress?

Everybody was doing it, I just wanted to be popular.

Re: Thin Skull Defense!

[Anonymous Coward]

it's usually in regards to negligence -- negligence takes their victims as they come. Let's say CowboyNeal sits on CmdrTaco's face and farts. Although this wouldn't hurt a bonehead like Zonk, CmdrTaco happens to have osteoporosis (a side effect of taking female hormones), and his head is crushed. CowboyNeal is thus criminally/civilly culpable for his death.

Re:hang on - *without* prejudice?

[Asmandeus]

Might as well just replace said secretary with Dragon NaturallySpeaking Legal.

Re:itsatrap

[DreamerFi]

and "politics" comes from the word "poli" meaning many, and ticks, meaning bloodsucking parasites...

proflict!

[cyclomedia]

...being the opposite of conflict (fighting) must therefore mean "making sweet love to"

Body slam

[Ydna]

From the letter:

In an age of Wintel-virus created bot-farms, spoofs, and easily cracked WEP encrypted wireless home networks (among other easy hacks), the only tech-savvy response to such a request is, "You've got to be kidding."

So, this lawyer is a Slashdot regular then.

Re:hang on - *without* prejudice?

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

I'd say "you're welcome", but I'm afraid to be modded down for not having anything more profound to say.