Quote:
Originally Posted by arjaybe
Lessig is a smart man and, as far as I know, a smart lawyer.
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Lessig was lead counsel in
Eldred v Ashcroft, challenging the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act. He's written multiple books about copyright reform (
Free Culture and
Remix are both freely available online)and one about campaign finance reform, and is both willing and competent to take a case all the way to the Supreme Court. He doesn't need the EFF for this--except that he's a good enough lawyer to know that it's always,
always a bad idea to represent yourself.
However, he'll be just as involved in the legal analysis and decision-making as whatever legal team the EFF assigns to the case. He's been through
exactly this situation before, and that one involved a much bigger company. With
Lenz v Universal as precedent, he may be looking for a solid courtroom ruling that can be pushed back to YouTube to require that they assist targets of wrongful DMCA notices in filing suit against the copyright holders who don't bother to look for fair use.
Liberation Music is likely to find themselves in the position of someone who set out rat-traps and caught an elephant by the tail.