NYS Senate Republicans Implicated in Copyright Suit
According to court documents recently obtained by RT, several current and former NYS Senators are facing suit in Federal District Court for the Northern District of New York for alleged copyright infringement. Among the notable defendants are none other than George Winner, whom you’ll recall is spearheading the NYS Senate “investigation” into troopergate, and John “Rootin’ Tootin’” Randy Kuhl, currently a US Congressman.
By way of background, the complaint only alleges involvement by NYS Senators. Kuhl’s involvement is limited to the time he served in the NYS Senate, prior to being elected to Congress in 2004. Moreover, George Winner currently represents the seat (53rd SD) which Kuhl vacated for the House.
The complaint filed August 10, 2006, by Student Lifeline, Inc., alleges Winner and other NYS GOP Senators, along with Kuhl, when Kuhl was in the NYS Senate, conspired to produce and distribute unauthorized copies of something called the “Private Child I.D. Kit.” From what I can gather, this Kit was, in essence, something used to create I.D. cards for children with important information (i.e. name, address, etc…) in the event the child was ever lost or missing.
Apparently, some NYS Senators had a business agreement to buy the Kits from Student Lifeline, complete with a picture of the Senator, for distribution amongst the Senator’s constituents. Student Lifeline alleges Senator Kemp Hannon had such an agreement, but backed off when he found out he could get free copies of the Kit from his Republican buddies in the Senate. Those buddies, it’s alleged, would end up producing and distributing, with public funds, the Student Lifeline I.D. Kits, tailored for each Senator’s district, in violation of Student Lifeline’s copyright on the Kit.
Ironically, a related suit was filed a few years ago against the NYS Senate (as opposed to the individual Senator’s named in this suit). As part of the that suit, Sen. Majority Leader Joe Bruno, a Bruno aide, and Sen. Hannon all had to give taped depositions, but the kicker is that the taped deposition was kept under seal so as not become political fodder. Who, you ask, fought for the corrupt Joe Bruno during that battle? An October 2006 Times Union article tells all:
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office, which is defending the senators, asked the judge to block the taping of Bruno, Hannon and Matt Walter, the purported author of the Senate’s child ID kits.
A Spitzer spokeswoman said the defendants were concerned the tapes could be misused in political campaigns.
Ah the good ol’ days.
The Senator’s full answer to the latest Student Lifeline complaint can be found here. As you will see in their answer, the Senators are currently being defended by NYS AG Andrew Cuomo’s Office.
I guess that explains George Winner’s being frantic for Governor Spitzer to appoint Cuomo “Special Prosecutor” in the troopergate non-scandal; Who better than one’s defense attorney to prosecute one’s political enemy. How about Winner, Kuhl, et al, hire their own defense attorneys for this suit, then we can talk about a special prosecutor.
Depending on what happens in the next few months, this case could go to trial by mid to late November 2007.
In the meantime, feel free to vent frustration in the comments about every New Yorker’s obligatory subsidization of Republican Senators political mailings, as well as their defense for copyright infringement in the process. Enjoy!
Maybe they should all follow Karl Rove to Texas. A think tank of that size should be able to produce sizeable results.
Sure now that Rove has all the extra time on his hands….
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This is all very complicated. I see the violation of copyright aspect of this case, but isn’t it also a crime to use public funds for this?
Specifically, what crime(s) are the state senators charged with, and what are the potential penalties if convicted?
As of today, this is a civil case. It is not a criminal case, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be in the future if it’s discovered laws were broken. It should be noted that we have no concrete evidence of any criminal wrongdoing, at this point. The only wrong alleged is a civil matter, e.g. copyright infringement. However, I would like to see two thing happen:
1) The AG’s office should cease defending the Senator’s.
2) The AG, or NYS Inspector General, should immediately investigate this matter to determine if public funds were expended for political purposes or if public funds were willfully spent in furtherance of a conspiracy to knowingly commit copyright infringement.
Without those things, we may never know if any crimes were committed, but, surely, this lawsuit in and of itself provides enough evidence to warrant a full investigation; don’t you think?
Thanks for clarifying.
Thanks for this very interesting info, Jrviper. I’m no lawyer, and my understanding of copyright law is limited to what I could glean from one course in Cornell’s law school on it (my lowest grade in grad school, btw) and all the Lawrence Lessig books I can afford…. BUT, I think that it is not feasible for the AG’s office to drop defense in this case, if I understand it correctly. That would be because the AG is required to defend the State of NY in court (his job), and, since the LOB Senate Printing Office was involved in producing the copyright-infringing products using State funds, the once-great State of NY has become a partner in these two-bit thugs’ theft of intellectual property.
We, the people, just gotta take this state back. Very soon.