Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California
I am one of 1700 defendants in a copyright infringment law suit. I changed companies 5 months before the plaintiff delivered the summons of the lawsuit. My past company signed for all of the summons delvered at that location. Since I had left the company 5 months prior to delivery, and the summons was not forwarded to me. . . [by the way, I am a minor player in all the court action as the original action was only against the owner of the company, and now all the company's independent contractors, like me.]
My question is twofold, Am I responsible for the summons, I mean does this constitute delivery if I had changed companies? and the plaintiff had the ability to verify where I was prior to sending out the summons?
and
How do you speculated the Judge will view this situation?
3 Answers from Attorneys
You've conveniently left out why your former company is being sued. What I would do is have a lawyer (not you) write a letter, on the lawyer's letterhead, explaining your situation and demanding to be dismissed from the lawsuit. I will do this for you for $100. If the plaintiff is sufficiently foolish that they do not let you out of the lawsuit after receiving my letter, I might help you sue them for malicious prosecution.
you were not properly served with the summons. you should move to quash service rather than wait for a default judgment to be entered. you say you were an "independent contractor." this may or may not be the case depending on the factual circumstances of your relationship with the owner. the owner may have a duty to indemnify you for legal expenses incurred. the duty of indemnity may arise from contract or implied by law. you should also see whether copyright infringement is covered by your homeowner's insurance. if so, you should tender the defense to the carrier. these are just some of things you should be thinking about. good luck.
If the plaintiff files paperwork at court claiming you were served, and if you don't file the appropriate pleadings, they will seek to enter a default judgment against you. You need to check the court records to see what your status is. If a default has been entered against you, you must file appropriate motions to set that aside. If it hasn't yet, you need to deal with the complaint and plaintiff properly. The company you worked for should be providing your legal defense and doing all these things, if it isn't, hire your own attorney. If serious about getting legal help in this, feel free to contact me.
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