Comment on Haier hits Home Assistant plugin dev with takedown notice
TWeaK@lemm.ee 9 months agoIt’s a bigger problem in the States than elsewhere. In the US, awarding legal costs is the exception, not the norm, so someone with a lot of money and access to lawyers can basically intimidate a defendent into avoiding court. In the rest of the world, courts are much more likely to award costs to a defendent who has done nothing wrong - if you file a frivilous lawsuit and lose, you’ll probably have to pay the costs of the person you tried to sue.
This guy’s in Germany, so I think he’d be alright if he clearly won. The issue, however, is that courts aren’t really equipped for handling highly technical cases and often get things wrong.
density@kbin.social 9 months ago
But the defendant still has to put the funds up in the first place? It's a huge gamble and most people don't even have the ante available.
Is there anywhere in the world that has a robust and comprehensive public funding for legal entanglements of all types?
NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Good point. Actually it isn’t a huge gamble in Germany, other than in Usa (which is again the extremely worst example).
Costs of legal defense are moderate. There is a public tariff for lawyer costs and for court fees. So the only areas where you even have a chance to spend huge amounts are finding or creating evidence (private investigators etc), or hiring too many lawyers.
tryptaminev@feddit.de 9 months ago
The problem is that it can still work in Germany to just pile the defendant under too many files to process with his ressources. This is not the case in stuff that courts understand, like say a traffic accident. But for anything technical/IT/IP related German courts are terribly incompetent and unable to create a fair case.
Especially regarding IP related things like streaming or torrenting movies, there is a myriad of ridiculous court decisions. The default unfortunately seems to be to just assume the corporation to be in the right, because it is a corporation and surely they must own the IP and lose a lot of money from the evil hackers.
NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 9 months ago
It is not “the” problem.
It is thinkable in theory, but it is not a normal thing to happen. "Also, you would not just “drown” the defendant, but the court as well, and then they may smell the misuse.
density@kbin.social 9 months ago
It seems that hourly rates of german lawyers are €100 to €500 which is about what I would expect. Even a few hours of time is a lot. To explain the case, have the lawyer or their designate review it, prepare for a case and show up to court is many hours at a minimum. Even if it is a simple matter.
NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 9 months ago
That linked text is very, very wrong.
TWeaK@lemm.ee 9 months ago
Yes they do have to fund their defense to begin with, however there has to be some balance struck. Until the court proceedings are concluded it isn’t known which side is in the right.
I think most countries’ public funding for legal representation is limited to criminal matters, and even then you have to qualify (eg have a very low income or be unemployed). With civil matters, it’s up to you to find a lawyer you can afford, or one who will take it on pro bono.
If the defendent is obviously in the right, then it should be more likely that they can find a lawyer who will work pro bono.
density@kbin.social 9 months ago
vs
TWeaK@lemm.ee 9 months ago
One is before the trial happens, one is after the trial happens.
Before the trial happens, it could really go either way, even if the defendant is obviously in the right - there could be some procedural slip up that causes them to lose anyway.
After the trial is completed, if it was obviously in the defendant’s favour, then it will be more likely that the judge will award costs such that the plaintiff pays the defendant’s.