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Expert Witness in UMG v. Lindor Agrees With Groklaw

By Pamela Jones et al.

I know you'll find this of interest. The expert witness retained by Marie Lindor's attorney, Prof. Johan Pouwelse, the same professor who provided the expert witness declaration in Foundation v. UPC Nederland in the Netherlands, has prepared his report in UMG v. Lindor, and it's now filed and available on Recording Industry vs. The People's website. I've read through it quickly, and it seems to agree with many of your comments when attorney Ray Beckerman asked to pick your brains regarding the RIAA's expert witness, Dr. Doug Jacobson's reports. I have a local copy for you [PDF], and I am sure you'll enjoy reading it.

He concludes that copyright infringement has not been proven, that the Media Sentry reports were "factually erroneous", that their techniques have never been properly tested and are simplistic, and that there was a lack of "proper scientific scrutiny" evident in the other side's expert witness's work. He actually goes further, writing that the Jacobson reports demonstrate "borderline incompetence." Which is pretty much what you concluded.

I have to say, watching the Pick Your Brains projects -- you pooling your skills and knowledge to help attorneys understand the tech and therefore be more effective in what they do -- is very gratifying. It's a key goal of Groklaw to help attorneys understand technical matters better. I hoped it would work, but you never really know until you try something in real life. So, we've been trying it now for a while, and whether it's searching for prior art or explaining technical matters, I see now for sure that it is working, and we can make a positive contribution.

Full post as published by Groklaw on February 23, 2008 (boomark / email).