cowwoc
join:2007-05-19
St John'S, NL | reply to Fuzzy285
Re: If TekSavvi doesn't fight on Jan 14th, I'm leaving them. said by Fuzzy285:People think they'll get away with only a $100 fine. Not true, once served they MUST file a defense, and that costs money. Only after you defend yourself will Voltage offer any form of settlement or choose to discontinue. I've read in a couple of places that because the penalty is capped at $5000 that the suing company must go to small claims court. If that is indeed the case, it won't cover the defendant much of anything.
The question remains: is the suing company allowed to bring this to a normal court? Or are they required to bring it to small-claims court?
Thanks,
Gili |
|
| You can't. Small Claims only allows payments of money or return of personal property, which are not the remedies being sought by Voltage (statutory damages + punitive damages + a declaration from defendants), you'd have to respond to their claim and quash those portions before asking that it be moved to Small Claims, but by then the federal court judge might as well rule on the merit of the rest of the claim. They need to rewrite the law to allow respondants to file a simple defense saying that in the absence of proof of commercial infringement that those portions of the claim should be denied and that the venue should be moved to Small Claims regarding the balance of the claim. That would definitely take the wind off the sails of the trolls. |
|
cowwoc
join:2007-05-19
St John'S, NL | said by FatBastid:You can't. Small Claims only allows payments of money or return of personal property, which are not the remedies being sought by Voltage (statutory damages + punitive damages + a declaration from defendants), you'd have to respond to their claim and quash those portions before asking that it be moved to Small Claims, but by then the federal court judge might as well rule on the merit of the rest of the claim. They need to rewrite the law to allow respondants to file a simple defense saying that in the absence of proof of commercial infringement that those portions of the claim should be denied and that the venue should be moved to Small Claims regarding the balance of the claim. That would definitely take the wind off the sails of the trolls.
Okay. So what happens if you opt to represent yourself in court? Do individuals really run the risk of a judge labeling such infringement as commercial without any proof?
Alternatively, couldn't the plaintiffs opt to use the same law firm in exchange for lower hourly fees? This would be similar to a class-action lawsuit but in reverse.
Gili |
|
