Tardigrade lawsuit appealed

Peter David spoke of them seizing fan magazines at conventions.

I recall they took down a bunch of sites in the ‘90s as well, though I may be misremembering - I included Star Trek in Sound and Vision in that, but a quick search tells me it was voluntarily pulled.

 

Man, how I loved those fanon blueprints and technical manuals - still have most of them in my attic.

 

It has been a while since I’ve been to a con but in the 80s-90s I remember tons of bootleg stuff in dealers rooms. Anime being a really big one but there were also people saleing things like photocopied episide scripts and the like.

 

New on AxaMonitor
Appeal in Tardigrades Case Against Star Trek Discovery in Danger of Dismissal.
In view of Anas Abdin’s lawyers’ pattern of deficient filings, a federal appeals court threatens to dismiss the case on November 7. Read more »

 

What a clusterfuck.

 

Right from the get go.
But that's what happens when one listens to overzealous U-tube fanatics, instead of ones own common sense.

All that fanfare and money collected and he won't get a dime of it.

 

Great legal team nerdrotic is paying for.

 

It's been pretty obvious from the start that neither lawyer was really prepared/qualified to bring a Copyright Suit to the court.
One would almost think that they were hoping to make a name for themselves by beating a big Corporation.
I guess that didn't go exactly to plan.

 

"Have you been the victim of a giant media conglomerate stealing you intellectual property? Have you or anyone you know had their half formed and barely sketched out game idea vaguely sorta kinda copied if you squint and tilt your head at it? Do you not really care about winning but more about showing Youtubers you can stick it to the Man? Then start your GoFundMe and call our law offices TODAY!"

 

Actually, from the way things are set up, they represented Abdin on what's essentially consignment, meaning they shouldered the initial cost and hoped to be paid either from parts of a settlement, or CBS would pay their fees if Abdin won. But CBS didn't just throw money in a settlement at Abdin to go away, nor did Abdin have a claim on legal cost anyway because of how late the copyright was registered.

From the looks of the gofundme it seems that this time they are paid outright for their "invaluable" services. And I think that bit about needing funds for "media outreach" is them trying to turn this into the nuisance lawsuit they hoped it would be the first time around. Meaning they try to apply pressure from bad PR to get CBS to throw money into a settlement just to make that go away. That's, I think, where they hope to recoup their initial expenses.

The problem of course being that CBS shouldn't settle at all because whatever bad press the lie-mongers on youtube drum up right now will pale in comparison to them being able to claim that "CBS admitted to stealing from Abdin by settling!!!!!" . Which they totally would, and the rubes that subscribe to them would lap that up and ret it far and wide.

 

Exactly. CBS has no need to settle, and giving away money at this point is reinforcing bad behavior.

 

Looks like Abdin's lawyers are intent on providing Abdin with another potential revenue stream through a potential legal malpractice claim or lawsuit. If the appeal is dismissed because of the attorney's failure to properly represent Abdin, he may very well have good grounds for a claim of legal malpractice against his attorneys.

But I'm a little fuzzy on whether or not Abdin's GoFundMe actually raised $20,000, and how much of whatever was raised has been paid to his lawyers. The article says that the GoundFundMe pitch now says it is "on behalf of John Johnson", which sounds like all of the money collected will go to the attorney. So if the appeal fails, for whatever reason, Abdin won't even be able to keep any money not paid to his attorney? If so, wow.

 

I wonder if they stuck Abdin with a bill from the first suit and the "appeal"/GoFundMe was largely a mechanism to generate cash to pay that.

 

That's entirely possible. Look at it this way: If the attorneys represented Abdin on contingency, that means they shouldered the costs of litigation at the district court, gambling on either a settlement or damages to get paid.

Trouble is, because they bungled the copyright registration, Abdin is no longer eligible to ask CBS to pay attorneys' fees should he win. And he's also ineligible to seek statutory damages, having to settle for only actual damages, which could be close to zero since his game has never been completed or taken to market. Basically, by not appealing, the attorneys get nothing.

BUT... Abdin's appeal has become a cause celebre, demonstrating that people's hatred of Discovery and CBS translates easily into $20,000 in just a matter of days. It doesn't matter if the appeal doesn't move forward or if it loses. So long as Nerdrotic and his fellow YouTube conspiracists can stoke people's hatred, they'll keep giving money. Abdin's lawyers may lose the case but they'll cry all the way to the bank.

Also, @gblews asked:

Yes, Abdin's GoFundMe raised more than $20,000. After paying for transaction fees, more than $19,000 was handed over to Abdin's lawyer, John Johnson. Presumably, Johnson will administer the money on Abdin's behalf but Johnson's also first in line to be paid out of that fund.

The rest of the money will quickly be eaten up by the other budgeted activities (vague reference to hiring technical experts and legal consultants, as well as a media campaign that would have no effect on the actual appeal). Don't be surprised if there are future waves of additional fundraising since the budget outlined in the GFM actually totals more than $20,000 just to start.

So the irony here is that all the GFM money can be used up on "legitimate" costs and Abdin himself will likely see none of it. Everyone other than him benefits — his lawyers, the hired experts, the legal consultants, Nerdrotic and his YouTube conspiracist pals.

 

Today is the deadline.
Any word yet as to whether the lawyers refiled the appropriate forms?

 

Nothing yet. They will likely wait till close to the deadline I'd expect.

Will be interesting to see what they claim are the grounds for appeal... I don't think "judge was a meanie who is a discovery lover" is a valid legal ground for appeal.

 

Yep, and they should have until the end of the day to file. Typically in federal court that is literally until 11:59:59 p.m.

 

If the lawyer yet again screws up filling out the form even though filing it on time (barely), does he get another chance?