Massachusetts Federal District Judge Nancy Gernter expressed concern at a recent hearing in an action brought by the recording industry against individuals for illegal file sharing that there is a “huge imbalance” between the large law firms representing the industry and the defendants usually appear pro se or else default.
A post about this appears at LegalBlogWatch which then links in the blogosphere to Recording Industry vs. The People, a blog developed for this rash of cases by Attorney Ray Beckerman.
Judge Gertner mentioned in the hearing that the defaulting defendants often end up incurring judgments ranging from $3,000 to $10,000. She encouraged the defendants who appeared at the hearing to try to obtain legal representation at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.
Interestingly, Beckerman in his blog, while appreciating Gertner’s efforts, points out that her ruling to consolidate the cases contributed to the situation by making it more economically feasible for the recording industry to bring the cases and, concomitantly, more difficult for individuals to defend.
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[...] In a previous post, I wrote about the RIAA cases filed in Boston and how a federal judge had pointed out the huge imbalance that existed between the industry and individuals. [...]