‘Copyright Troll’ Liebowitz Suspended From Manhattan Court

This content has been archived. It may no longer be accurate or relevant.

From Bloomberg Law:

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York’s Grievance Committee has suspended notorious copyright attorney Richard Liebowitz from practicing before the court, according to a court order.

The committee cited Liebowitz’s “repeated disregard for orders from this Court and his unwillingness to change despite 19 formal sanctions and scores of other admonishments and warnings from judges across the country” in its amended Monday order to suspend him. The suspension is temporary until the committee issues its final decision on the “strongly supported” disciplinary charges against him.

Liebowitz is known for filing over a thousand lawsuits on behalf of photographers who claim their work was reposted by media outlets and others without permission. He’s been accused of filing frivolous suits to force settlements, and federal courts have called Liebowitz a “copyright troll,” among other things.

In the case where Liebowitz was referred to the committee, Judge Jesse S. Furman also wrote Monday that Liebowitz was required to serve a copy of a June opinion and order sanctioning him on “every one of the firm’s current clients,” and file a copy in pending and future cases brought by him or his firm.

Liebowitz attested that he had complied. But later, Liebowitz identified 113 cases in which he failed to make the filing.

“Had Mr. Liebowitz failed to file the Opinion and Order in a handful of cases, the failure to comply might have been understandable and excusable,” the court said. “But the failure to file it in 113 cases is astonishing and suggests contumaciousness, an egregiously disorganized case management system, or both.”

Link to the rest at Bloomberg Law and thanks to C. for the tip.

PG believes copyrights should be honored, but has no respect for attorneys who engage in these sorts of practices.

He has recently engaged in a series of email exchanges with a California law firm that has branched into the same sort of operation.