Copyright Law

"Excess Copyright" reports that Donald Verrilli, the lawyer who unsuccessfully argued Capitol v. Thomas for RIAA, is appointed to high DOJ post

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

Just received this report in from Howard Knopf of "Excess Copyright":

Verrilli to DOJ - Three Strikes?

President Obama has just appointed another big time content industry lawyer to DOJ.

Donald Verrilli, of Jenner and Block, who fought and won the Grokster case for the music industry in the US Supreme Court along with many other important cases, has been named as associate deputy attorney general. This follows the recent appointment of Tom Perrelli of the same firm as associate attorney general.

1. I take exception to the statement that Verrilli "won" the Supreme Court Grokster case; the Grokster decision (a) set the bar very high for secondary copyright infringement, and (b) merely denied summary judgment to the defendant, but did not award victory to the plaintiffs. Thereafter Grokster settled, and Streamcast lost in the lower court.

2. Mr. Verrilli is the lawyer who journeyed to Duluth but failed to convince Judge Davis to adopt a "making available" right despite controlling contrary 8th Circuit authority, in Capitol Records v. Thomas.

[Ed. Note. Let us remember that (1) President Obama has established rules that preclude Mr. Verrilli from working on matters affecting the content cartel he represented in private practice, and (2) this is not a policy job.]

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Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).