In our efforts to identify the authors of defamatory contents targeting our clients, we utilize many methods. Sometimes we issue subpoenas, but that is not all we do. Our Internet law firm stands out for our use of technology to assist our clients, methods that, in my experience, most lawyers don't even understand.  Will the evidence be admissible?  I submit to you that it does not really matter. Once the target is identified, if litigation results our client will be entitled to issue discovery, which will need to be answered under oath. If the target lies, we will have enough to impeach this person in front of a jury. As a technology guy, I find this more effective (and absolutely less boring) than writing sleep-inducing legal briefs.  By the time these briefs are filed, we have often identified the author through technology.

Now, some people who get these subpoenas are faced with a choice, fight the subpoena or try to work it out. So, they seek advice from "Uncle Google", where they may find some of the aforementioned briefs filed by certain "public interest" law firms contesting the subpoenas. Due to my results-oriented approach and lack of interest in useless debate, I have refrained from posting what happened in these cases. Rest assured, we got what we wanted and the subpoenas were moot as unnecessary. Lesson learned: to the extent permitted by law, we will use technology to stay ahead of dinosaur law firms. This is ... << MORE >>

At this Internet law firm, we are no strangers to copyright litigation. From whether website reviews are copyrightable to defending individuals caught in the RIAA's use of the Department of Justice to do RIAA's litigation in the form of criminal copyright infringement prosecutions.  Now the pornographers are here and they are taking a page out of the RIAA's playbook. It appears that the pornographers' strategy is to file lawsuits against unidentified parties, issue subpoenas and follow up with threatening letters to the identified individuals demanding payment of a few thousand dollars. These individuals are accused of utilizing bit torrent software to infringe on the copyrights. Multiply the $2k to $3k requested from each identified "John Doe" times a few hundred defendants in several jurisdictions and the pornographers can feasibly make more money through lawsuits than through selling their product.

To further the strategy, pornographer Patrick Collins filed an action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against 58 different unidentified (John Doe) defendants. The case is Civil Action No: 3:11CV531. We were retained by one of the "John Doe" Defendants. We identified a number of problems with Plaintiff's case, not the least of which is the joinder of totally unrelated parties on the same litigation. After seeing this situation, we filed a Motion to Quash on behalf ... << MORE >>

In another pioneer decision, attorney Domingo J. Rivera obtained summary judgment in a case involving an ex-husband accessing his wife's email and social network accounts without authorization.

There has been some discussion in the news about a Michigan man that criminally charged with with accessing his wife's computer accounts.  Some commentators have argued that utilizing the computer hacking statutes to prosecute these acts is overreaching, but so far, the courts have provided little guidance on this issue.

Many Federal and State computer crime statutes provide not only criminal, but also civil remedies for the victims. Recently, attorney Domingo Rivera handled one of these civil cases.  As is the case for many pioneering cases handled by attorney Domingo Rivera, this was a case that other attorneys expressed doubt about and that opposing counsel openly minimized.

In this case, the opposing party claimed that the divorce property settlement agreement barred our client's claims and filed a counterclaim against our client for breach of the agreement. We also obtained summary judgment dismissing this claim against our client.

The Court not only agreed with the legal argument advance by attorney Domingo Rivera, but also granted summary judgment.  Obtaining summary judgment means that we prevailed as a matter of law and that a trial to establish liability was not necessary.   The Court expertly discussed the standard for summary judgment:

In determining whether summary judgment is appropriate, the burden is placed on the ...

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Are Website User Reviews Copyrightable? by Domingo J. Rivera , Esq.

Internet review sites continue to gain popularity. Users can find a website where they can review just about anything. From whether they like the breakfast bar at a particular hotel to their Toyota's breaking capabilities (or lack thereof), from whether their obstetrician is friendly enough to whether their plastic surgeon made their nose a bit too pointy. If an Internet user wants the world informed of his or her every interaction with the outside world, there is a platform out there to accommodate that.

 

The question is, are these reviews copyrightable material. If they are, the author grants a license to publish these materials to the website and can generally revoke this license. What happens if the original author demands removal of the review? Can the website refuse to do so without incurring potential liability for copyright infringement ? The answer depends on whether these reviews are copyrightable in the first place and involves an Internet law question. In my opinion, they are. You do not need to be John Grisham to copyright your writings.

According to the notes of committee on the Judiciary (1976) for 17 U.S.C. § 102, “[t]he phrase 'original works of authorship,' which is purposely left undefined, is intended to incorporate without change the standard of originality established by the courts under the present copyright statute. This standard does not include requirements of novelty, ingenuity, or esthetic merit, and there is no ...

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We are in the process of updating the Internet Lawyer website. The website was a bit dated and in desperate need of a "facelift."  We have updated the appearance and will be updating the contents to better reflect the current state of our practice. This has been a very successful year for our Internet Law practice, and hopefully the new website will better reflect our image. During that time, some of the urls in the Internet Lawyer website may still resolve to the old pages. I am aware that this has caused some confusion for some of our existing and potential clients, but it will be resolved soon.  We are going through the same process with our Cyber Crime Defense website. This one is almost done, but some urls still need to be fixed.

We will continue updating the website in a manner that will hopefully reduce any confusion. This has been a great year for our Internet Law firm. We became the first law firm in the United States to win a jury trial in Federal Court involving accusations of criminal copyright infringement (music piracy). This was also the most important case of its type. Our client was alleged to be the leader of the most prolific music piracy group in the world. After five days of trial, the jury agreed with us and returned a Not Guilty verdict. ... << MORE >>

Today, a federal jury acquitted Adil Cassim who was represented by Domingo J. Rivera.  The United States Department of Justice had alleged that Adil Cassim was the leader of Rabid Neurosis ("RNS").  On the DOJ website, the press release alleged that "according to the indictment, the defendants, led by Cassim for a period of time, allegedly conspired to illegally upload to RNS thousands of copyright protected music files, which were often subsequently reproduced and distributed hundreds of thousands of times. According to the indictment, RNS was a "first-provider" or "release group" for pirated music and other content to the Internet. Once a group obtains and prepares infringing digital copies of copyrighted works, the copies can then be distributed in a matter of hours to secure computer servers throughout the world. According to the indictment, RNS members were granted access to massive libraries of pirated music, video games, software and movies by gaining a reputation for providing previously unavailable pirated materials. The indictment alleges that the supply of pre-release music was often provided by music industry insiders, such as employees of compact disc (CD) manufacturing plants, radio stations and retailers, who typically receive advance copies of music prior to its commercial release.Read the USDOJ press release here.

Various alleged members of RNS have been convicted.  The jury's verdict was released a few hours ago, more details will be available soon.

It has been quite a while since my previous post.  I have been extremely busy assisting my clients with Internet
legal matters.  Internet defamation continues to affect the reputation of
businesses and professionals as former customers, patients, and others who know
that they do not have valid legal claims assert their false and frivolous
complaints in blogs, forums and smear sites.  Even competitors are now
posing as unsatisfied consumers in order to post false and ...<< MORE >>