Highlights From Today's Reply Brief (Part 7)
Regarding our argument that Category C claimants are not "lucky to get anything under copyright law," and regarding the tolling provision of class actions:
The opposition makes the same assertion which seems to be the cornerstone of this settlement: C claimants are lucky to get anything because they haven't registered. First, that misstates the C category. It does include those who have registered after December 31, 2002. More important, the position of unregistered class members is not that weak. The filing of a class tolls the statute of limitations for all members of the alleged class.... Once a copyright owner registers they can sue for actual damages going back for the three-year statute of limitations. But the presently unregistered copyright owner in this class can reach back three years before these cases were first filed in 2000. So they can still register, and receive all the damages that have accrued to them going back to 1997. As Muchnick's declaration showed, infringement has continued right on throughout the four years the plaintiffs were mediating with the defendants. The defendants earn money by infringing the work of all class members, including the unregistered. There is no reason to treat this part of the class as lucky to get anything at all.
The full brief can be viewed at http://freelancerights.muchnick.net/. Comments can be posted here or emailed to me at info@muchnick.net.
The opposition makes the same assertion which seems to be the cornerstone of this settlement: C claimants are lucky to get anything because they haven't registered. First, that misstates the C category. It does include those who have registered after December 31, 2002. More important, the position of unregistered class members is not that weak. The filing of a class tolls the statute of limitations for all members of the alleged class.... Once a copyright owner registers they can sue for actual damages going back for the three-year statute of limitations. But the presently unregistered copyright owner in this class can reach back three years before these cases were first filed in 2000. So they can still register, and receive all the damages that have accrued to them going back to 1997. As Muchnick's declaration showed, infringement has continued right on throughout the four years the plaintiffs were mediating with the defendants. The defendants earn money by infringing the work of all class members, including the unregistered. There is no reason to treat this part of the class as lucky to get anything at all.
The full brief can be viewed at http://freelancerights.muchnick.net/. Comments can be posted here or emailed to me at info@muchnick.net.
posted by Irv Muchnick at 1:59 PM
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