RIAA Asks for Blanket Gag Order
Ray Beckerman has his hands full. As many faithful readers of TDMW know, Ray Beckerman is a legal hero of mine, and is lead counsel for several RIAA case defendants.Beckerman just posted to his blog a response to Sony BMG's demand for a blanket gag order before appearing at any deposition.
"plaintiffs are imposing an unacceptable precondition to their appearance: they are refusing to produce the witnesses unless defendant agrees to an advance blanket stipulation of confidentiality as to the entire contents of the deposition transcripts. Plaintiffs have refused to cite any legal authority for their omnibus protective order request other than the Seattle Times case, a completely distinguishable Supreme Court case which granted a limited protective order as to certain specified classes of documents, based on a traditional showing of "annoyance, embarrassment, [and] oppression" of the individuals whose information would be disclosed."
RIAA member companies have pulled a great list of legal stunts. This trumps them all in my opinion. To put it in plain and simple English, what Sony BMG have asked is that the court trump the 1st amendment rights of the defendant and the defendant's counsel in order to save them from public scrutiny of their own words during deposition.
This isn't normal. I can't wait to see what the judge rules. Sigh.
