I found this article over on fightcopyrighttrolls.com. This looks to be big news and has the potential of either greatly helping or hurting our fight with copyright trolls. Recognizing the copyright trolls tactics a Pennsylvania judge has decided to take the trial one of the copyright trolls to test is evidence using five does who had filed motions. Unfortunately it is punishing the does for filing motions but in my opinion the results of this trial could be a setback is big for the P2P trolls as the child the case was for the stock photo companies. The article may be found here:
http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2012/10/07/judge-boylson-wants-to-test-copyright-trolls-evidence-in-a-bellwether-trial/
http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2012/10/07/judge-boylson-wants-to-test-copyright-trolls-evidence-in-a-bellwether-trial/
Quote
By definition Bellwether is an indicator of future trends. Courts utilize a bellwether approach when large numbers of plaintiffs are proceeding on the same theory or claim and there is no other feasible way for the courts to handle the enormous caseload. This approach has been used in many cases including asbestos litigation. A group of plaintiffs are chosen to represent all the plaintiffs. The issues for trial should concern common claims or theories among all the plaintiffs. These representative cases go for trial and the results act as the bellwether for the other plaintiffs’ trials. The verdict from this grouping is extrapolated to the remaining plaintiffs’ cases. The actual results may be utilized for valuing groups of claims in settlements. The plaintiffs can also choose to continue with their own individual trial