This is something I’ve known about for a few months (obviously), but now that I ran across the information on other sites, I don’t see any issue with posting about it now…

Universal City Studios Productions (the entity suing me [more or less] on behalf of the MPAA) doesn’t actually have a legal right to sue because they didn’t own the copyright. {lol}

You can read the motion to dismiss over here if you are bored.

It is of course a technicality, and assuming the whole case is indeed thrown out, I’m sure once they get their heads screwed on straight they will probably start the whole process again with the correct entity (you know, one that actually owns a valid copyright). :)

Regardless if they do (or don’t) want to come after me again (again, assuming it is thrown out), it opens up a whole new can of worms. For the hundreds of people that “settled” for $2,500, are those settlements even legal/valid? If they turn out to be invalid, what can I do to help everyone get their settlement money back from Universal/MPAA? They’re legal right to make settlements with people would be along the same lines as me settling with you for downloading Star Wars. I’m thinking if people were paying me because I told them I owned the copyright to Star Wars (but I didn’t really) may be illegal in itself.

Request

I never received a copy of the proposed settlement agreement (I didn’t request one since it wasn’t an option in my mind), but if anyone happens to have one or know anyone who has a settlement agreement for allegedly downloading Meet The Fockers, could you leave a comment here on this post (I’ll contact you to coordinate getting a copy). That way my lawyers can go over it and see if it’s legally binding if Universal City Studios Productions never owned the copyright to begin with.

I saw it on Tech Dirt, but I knew about it first (I swear!).. hah

http://techdirt.com/articles/20061031/192204.shtml