This is exactly why SOPA / ACTA et al must be stopped.
If this happened me, in 2012, I would go straight onto kickstarter to get donations for the legal fees and fight these dickheads tooth and nail.
How a big movie studio (unfairly) forced a student to give up his senior thesis
11–20 of 93 posts
Re: How a big movie studio (unfairly) forced a student to give up his senior thesis
#12Question for any lawyers present: If a lawyer threatens to "ruin your life with litigation", etc., can't that be construed as a threat/bribe?
I would think it would be illegal to call a student, who doesn't know any better, and threaten to ruin their life, especially if the threats you're making aren't actually true.
In any case, the obvious next step in the student's situation is to contact a lawyer, and see if there's any merit to the threat. For all he knows, a lawyer would have told him that it's a totally empty threat and he shouldn't worry about it. It is naive to listen to the word of someone who is obviously opposing you.
Re: How a big movie studio (unfairly) forced a student to give up his senior thesis
#13This is an incredibly ridiculous story. This student is exactly the type of person Hollywood should be nurturing: a creative student with vision, perusing his creative 'dream' and not letting his limited means get in the way of his vision.
It's a real pity that this happened, and a lost opportunity for the film industry. It could have been simple for them to take this as an opportunity and make something great out it. Instead, they alienated the type of person they need.
That said, I don't think this is an excuse to take 'revenge' on these companies, "one download at a time".
Re: How a big movie studio (unfairly) forced a student to give up his senior thesis
#14Question for any lawyers present: If a lawyer threatens to "ruin your life with litigation", etc., can't that be construed as a threat/bribe? I would think it would be illegal to call a student, who doesn't know any better, and threaten to ruin their life, especially if the threats you're making aren't actually true. In any case, the obvious next step in the student's situation is to contact a lawyer, and see if ther…
Most colleges have student legal assistance available, I think. I wonder if he tried going that route?
Re: How a big movie studio (unfairly) forced a student to give up his senior thesis
#15There are some simple things that could be done to protect against this kind of abuse:
- Loser pays the winner's costs, but capped such that the loser won't be bankrupted. This effectively means that when a big company loses, they get to pay for all of the trial, but individuals can still lose without being totally doomed.
- A judge could be allowed to grant "free trial" if he thought the case had merit and one of the parties couldn't afford the legal costs. This would mean that the state would cover the legal costs of that party no matter the outcome.
Re: How a big movie studio (unfairly) forced a student to give up his senior thesis
#16Americans, why don't you introduce the concept where courts are encouraged to award all costs against the loser? This culture is widespread in the commonwealth, and strategic court actions are less common. It should be a really simple change.
Re: How a big movie studio (unfairly) forced a student to give up his senior thesis
#17... and that's why loser pays system is better. This guy would just get one of those lawyers who you have to pay only after the case (that is if you lose) and have them eat their C&D letters.
Re: How a big movie studio (unfairly) forced a student to give up his senior thesis
#18> I responded by sending them the consent form from the Asimov estate, and explained that it was a student project, not a commercial venture worth litigating. I turned over our script, our shooting notes, our shot list, copies of our tapes and even the concept art drawings.
I think the moral of the story is: Don't give the studio more information than you have to. The consent form would have been enough.
If the studio's goal had been to take money from you, you would have been right to let them know you had no money. But it wasn't: What they wanted was to stop you releasing the film. In that situation you want to appear as professional as possible. Just sending a cover letter from a lawyer with the consent form would be a start.
Re: How a big movie studio (unfairly) forced a student to give up his senior thesis
#19Question for any lawyers present: If a lawyer threatens to "ruin your life with litigation", etc., can't that be construed as a threat/bribe? I would think it would be illegal to call a student, who doesn't know any better, and threaten to ruin their life, especially if the threats you're making aren't actually true. In any case, the obvious next step in the student's situation is to contact a lawyer, and see if ther…
I don't know whether such extreme talk is legal, no, but it's quite common for lawyers to talk in this way.
Remember those letters you got when you forgot to pay for something on time? You know, the ones with a nice little addition saying "if you do not pay before X, we will be forced to take legal action."
It's the same thing, whether they will take action or not. The intent behind the statement is 'this will make it more likely that our victim is going to pay, so we don't have to deal with expensive legal stuff.'
Re: How a big movie studio (unfairly) forced a student to give up his senior thesis
#20There are some simple things that could be done to protect against this kind of abuse: - Loser pays the winner's costs, but capped such that the loser won't be bankrupted. This effectively means that when a big company loses, they get to pay for all of the trial, but individuals can still lose without being totally doomed. - A judge could be allowed to grant "free trial" if he thought the case had merit and one of th…
Loser pays a proportion of the winner's costs equal to the loser's costs (i.e. loser spends £100 in legal fees, winner spends £1500 in legal fees, loser has to pay £100 of the winner's costs, leaving the winner with £1400 to pay) has some nice properties.