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Defending online copyright infringement.

By Marks & Katz, LLC

Computer hard drive. (Image from Pacific Northwest Laboratory's website). On May 23, 2008, I blogged about bucking the trend of 94% of federal criminal prosecutions resulting in guilty pleas, by proceeding to a jury trial in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court for alleged criminal copyright infringement. Wired's blog -- parroting the assertion of the Recording Industry Association of America's news release -- describes my trial as the first federal trial for online criminal copyright infringement that primarily involved music; that does not mean that others have not entered guilty pleas for such accusations, because they have. On September 19, 2008, I went to sentencing with my client for this online copyright infringement case. Fortunately, the judge varied substantially below the sentencing guidelines, saying that they are excessive for my client's case, after having addressed such factors as the sentences of co-conspirators that were much lower than my client's sentencing guidelines (of course, those who plead guilty get the opportunity for a lower offense score due to acceptance of responsibility) and the below-guidelines sentence of a federal criminal defendant in another conspiracy case who was sentenced earlier this month for the same type of conspiracy as well as choate online copyright infringement...continue to full post

Full post as published by Underdog on September 22, 2008 (boomark / email).