Early Neutral Evaluation Conference

by Shawn @ 4:20 pm · filed under Movies, MPAA

Just got back from the Early Neutral Evaluation Conference with Judge William McCurine, Jr. (who was a remarkably nice and likable guy). Overall it was a waste of time (as expected) though because they really just want the two opposing sides to figure out a way they can settle without going to a full trial. Judge McCurine asked ██ █ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ (not that the MPAA/Universal offered that)... which of course █ ████ ██ █████ █ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ █ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █████ █████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███████ they asked for it. I guess he isn't a regular reader of my blog, because if he was, he would have known that already (heh.. that's a joke BTW).

I almost was late for the whole thing because I forgot how to tie a tie. hahaha!

Their lawyers were blabbing about ███ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████ █ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████████████. Hahaha... that's a weird argument for a court, eh? Thanks for the compliment... I would pay to hear that argument in court.

Since I have no interest whatsoever in their extortion settlement offer, we will be going for a trial. Judge McCurine did say ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ████ (█████ █ █████ ██ █ █████ ██████), so that's cool.

I guess next up is a mutual discovery plan which is due in 3 weeks.

Also... in the last week, I've done a couple different interviews regarding this case, so I'll post links to them when they are published.

Update

I guess these conferences are confidential, so I wasn't supposed to post all that, oops.

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10 Responses to “Early Neutral Evaluation Conference”

Tom Says:
May 23rd, 2006 at 5:17 pm

Hey man, good luck, you have %85 of the internet backing you on this one.

Oh, also… just curious, what is your primary occupation?

Shawn Says:
May 23rd, 2006 at 5:18 pm

The short answer is that I’m a “coder”.

The more boring answer is that I head up Digital Point Solutions.

robinq Says:
May 23rd, 2006 at 8:47 pm

Oh, I was wondering what you were, too!

Dave Says:
May 23rd, 2006 at 10:20 pm

Only 85%? It’s got to be at least 88%.

As for ties, just get a clip on.

Dave

Overcast32 Says:
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:43 am

“we are going to have a hard time defending it because “I’m intelligent”

HAHAHAH, that’s so cool. The lawyers are just intimdated, as they aren’t used to dealing with intellgent people - they typcially only deal with freaks, criminals and other lawyers - all of which aren’t considered intellegent by popular culture, hehe

Greedo Says:
July 25th, 2006 at 7:16 pm

You have said that you can’t prevent the MPAA from dropping the case. is it not possible to counterclaim for a declaration that you have not infringed the copyright and that you the copy of the movie you purchased is legitimate? as there is a cloud over this matter, isn’t there legislation that allows you to clear your name? Good luck!

Philip Says:
July 26th, 2006 at 9:11 am

Did the MPAA lawyers make the statement about you being difficult to attack because of your intelligence to the judge?

If so I wish he would have taken issue with that statement. It seems that the MPAA is abusing the legal system if they are only willing to sue persons who cannot defend themselves because of mental abilities. The obvious conclusion is that the MPAA is not serious about stopping violators but instead about making a statement. They don’t want to punish the criminals, they want easy money (like we should be surprised).

-phil

Shawn Says:
July 26th, 2006 at 10:32 am

No, they said that *I* would have a hard time defending myself because I’m intelligent.

Internet Marketing Blog - SearchFeature.com » Blog Archive » Digital Point vs. MPAA Post # 2 Says:
July 28th, 2006 at 7:54 am

[…] Just wanted to mention, that in case anyone has missed it this is how it started … Explore posts in the same categories: This and That […]

Bloggeries Blog Reviews » Blog Archive » Shawn Hogan’s Fan Club Blog Says:
August 1st, 2006 at 5:11 am

[…] Little did the MPAA know about Shawn Hogan or what happened with Winn and Simms, when they demanded $2,500.00, then went down to $500.00 for him allegedly downloading a copy of “Meet the Fockers” illegally. Shawn declined saying that he didn’t do it, even owns the movie on DVD, isn’t willing to settle, and now they’re going to court. He is ready to spend well over $100k on his defence. Wired Magazine picked up the story and now it’s on its way to make national headlines as it is making international headlines already. […]

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