Litigation copyright infringement is generally handled as a civil matter (e.g., RIAA music downloading cases) but occassionally, the Department of Justice (DOJ) pursues criminal charges against copyright infringers under 17 U.S.C. § 506 and 18 U.S.C. § 2319. Such prosecutions are rare. So, the announcement that the FBI is assisting Fox in tracking who leaked the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, is a big red flag that a criminal charges will be filed. In this regard, one suspects that the DOJ will attempt to make an example of out of the person(s) responsible for this leak by pursuing the heaviest possible penalties under the federal sentencing guidelines. This should be a very interesting case to watch.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Stan Lee East Coast Update: There Isn't One
The case of Abadin et al v. Marvel Characters, Inc. et al. was filed almost two months ago. After the initial flurry of filings and press releases, there have been very few developments in this case, which pits Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee against shareholders in Stan Lee Media, Inc. (SLMI). The last filing of any consequence was a consent order for substitution of counsel (Martin Garbus, who is the lawyer for the plaintiffs, joined the Eaton and Van Winkle as a partner) on March 31, 2009. At this pace, this litigation will drag on for a very long time.
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