Guardaley | X-Art
Copyright troll Christopher Fiore files an opposition… to his own motion, per judge’s order
I thought that one of today’s comments deserved a separate post: it is well-written and the discussed document is indeed interesting.
Here’s an interesting case I’ve been following in Pennsylvania: Malibu Media, LLC v.John Does 1-22 (5:12-cv-03139).
The Judge’s order was posted the other day, which severed all Does except one from the case, ordering Fiore to refile separately. That’s great news, but what was even more interesting about this case was how that came about. I haven’t seen it talked about much yet so here’s the overview:
Troll Fiore submitted an opposition on 7/20/2012, which triggered Judge Timothy J. Savage to issue the following order on 7/24/2012:
AND NOW, this 24th day of July, 2012, upon consideration of the Plaintiff’s Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and/or Sever Complaint, it is ORDERED that no later than August 8, 2012, the plaintiff shall file a supplemental memorandum in which it shall cite each case within the Third Circuit holding contrary to the cases cited in the plaintiff’s memorandum.
And another order on 7/31/2012:
AND NOW, this 31st day of July, 2012, upon consideration of the Plaintiff’s Motion for Clarification (Document No. 12), it is ORDERED that the motion is GRANTED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Order of July 24, 2012 refers to all BitTorrent copyright infringement cases and similar copyright infringement actions.
So essentially, Judge Savage asked Troll Fiore to argue against himself. Fiore submitted his memorandum on 8/8/2012 and cites at least a dozen cases where joinder was held improper, but he does his best to try and make it seem like really the issue is up in the air and it should fall on his side.
This is probably the funniest document I’ve ever read. You can just feel the cognitive dissonance on the pages. He’s very quick to point out why the cases he cites are wrong, but maybe he made the mistake of citing one of Savage’s own decisions that found joinder improper. Either way, Savage was not swayed, as we have seen, and Fiore failed. But this document will be very interesting for future motions to sever, where we can use the trolls own words against him.
Fight © Trolls 
Agree, and kudos to you for writing this when I thought you’d be sipping margaritas. I cannot help but to think that it is funny when a judge toys with an attorney forcing him (or her) to jump through hoops to present a fair and balanced memo to the court. Quite frankly, every lawyer learns in law school to present his case to the judge PERSUASIVELY. Part of this presentation is ALSO TO CITE OPPOSING LAW (and then to argue why it should not be followed). However, where a lawyer PERVERTS THE TRUTH AND LIES about other case law out there (or “forgets” entirely to cite opposing case law), well, judges don’t like that.
Thanks for the props!
I hope we see many more cases like this in PA. So far Troll Fiore has brought 63 troll cases to EDPA for Malibu Media and Patrick Collins, and judges are just starting to take notice and wisen up.
It’s interesting to note his footnote, which says he’s just citing cases which have been published on Westlaw; his list is by no means exhaustive. DTD and this site are actually probably excellent repositories of cases striking down the swarm theory of joinder.
It’s a predictable pattern, once the trolls find a jurisdiction that initially tolerates a few troll lawsuits they then overload the jurisdiction with loads of these lawsuits which invites the inevitable backlash. Greed blinds the trolls to the moral of the childhood story about the goose that laid the golden eggs. Regrettably DCD and, in particular, Judge Howell is a durable and stubborn goose but I think EDPA is just about fed up.
The Pink Elephant dancing in the court room, is that out of all the hundreds of John Doe Defendants, only three have been named and currently being sued. All the others are getting shake downed.
Any idea why the three are getting sued individually? Any links to the docs?
Here are the three cases I’m aware of:
http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuits/copyright-lawsuits/pennsylvania-eastern-district-court/100951/malibu-media-llc-v-sharon-detweiler/summary/
http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuits/copyright-lawsuits/pennsylvania-eastern-district-court/100691/malibu-media-llc-v-matthew-johnston/summary/
http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuits/copyright-lawsuits/pennsylvania-eastern-district-court/94435/malibu-media-llc-v-john-does-1-18/summary/
The first two have gone nowhere since filing last month. The third named defendant was added to a suit after Fiore dropped all other defendants. Very odd behavior, but it looks like he’s just covering his tracks for when Judge Baylson asks why he isn’t naming defendants. He’ll point to this case and say “See, I’m naming them.” but percentage-wise it’s still only 1/1000.
AC aced it.
I believe there are 3 other individual named cases filed (by Nucorp and Patrick Collins). Also I believe there is another case where an individual was named after other Does are dropped
Can’t remember the case number for now, but in that last case, an attorney was originally present to the court to represent Doe 13 (I believe I got the number right), but the attorney later on file to withdraw to represent the said Does, and after a while, that Doe got named while other Does are dropped. Sort of got that by cross-checking the Does # who were dismissed with perjury and without, since I was trying to figure out what attract Fiore to decide to name a Doe, so was looking into that case to try to find a pattern.
Will try to find the case number later on.
I believe the case I was referring to is
http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuits/copyright-lawsuits/pennsylvania-eastern-district-court/94465/malibu-media-llc-v-john-does-1-15/summary/
This guy looks arrogant and shady. He doesn’t have a forehead, he has a fivehead. By the looks of it, he really stuck his foot in his mouth! I bet the judge shoots him down on this one.
Down with all Trolls
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I am an attorney representing John Does in a few of the cases currently pending in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, with Chris Fiore as my opponent. Obviously, as I am connected to the case I cannot comment in great detail.
That said, I think this order and the case management order transferring all of Fiore’s cases to Judge Baylson for pre-trial management mark a turning of the tide in the Eastern District of PA. Until recently, the trolls have been winning there — between this (very humiliating) defeat for Fiore and a consolidated case management track for all the rest of his cases it’s clear that the court is taking these cases seriously.
There will be a hearing in front of Judge Baylson on some of the pending motions in the Malibu Media cases. I will be there on behalf of at least one Doe. Updates to follow as they come in.
When is that hearing supposed to occur?
It was today.
Good to know that there is somebody at the hearing to object every time Fiore is lying or talking BS. I still remember the recording of the hearing where Fiore tries to explain BitTorrent to Baylson. He goes like “nobody knows where BitTorrent is, it’s floating around somewhere in Asia or Eastern Europe and the mastermind Rah-ool is being hunted down in Germany, which is very 70s and espionage like” or something like that.
i love how many new doe defending lawyers have started commenting here. shows just how much attention this and dtd are getting (not to mention houstonlaw3r)
Where can I find the transcript or any information on the Sept 18 hearing? I still don’t see anything on PACER.