Copyright Law

Editorial comment: Questions which should be investigated concerning chronology of Atlantic v. Howell and Capitol v. Thomas

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

The initial, August 20, 2007, decision in Atlantic v. Howell, a pro se Arizona case, was vacated on September 27, 2007.

The RIAA lawyers had cited the initial decision to Judge Davis in Capitol v. Thomas.

The Thomas trial started on October 2, 2007.

On October 4th, there was oral argument in Capitol v. Thomas concerning the jury instructions to be given. Judge Davis wound up agreeing with the RIAA's argument, discarded the instruction he had originally decided to use, and accepted the improper instruction requested by Mr. Gabriel. And as everybody knows, the ludicrous jury verdict was the result.

So a period of seven (7) days had elapsed between the vacatur of the initial Howell decision and the oral argument and jury instruction.

I noted that day, in one blog post, that in two cases my office was handling -- Elektra v. Barker and Warner v. Cassin -- the RIAA's lawyers had "forgotten" to notify the respective judges that the Atlantic v. Howell decision which they had earlier sent to those judges had been vacated. I wondered, in another blog post, "if the RIAA lawyers ever brought it to the attention of Judge Davis that their favorite case, Atlantic v. Howell, was vacated."

Well I guess Judge Davis's new order answers my question.

They "forgot" to notify him as well.

Just as they "forgot" to notify him about the controlling contrary authority of the National Car Rental case.

-R.B.

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Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on May 15, 2008 (boomark / email).