Copywronged: The Continuing Battle for the Fair Use of Orphan Works

UNITED STATES v. GORDON (2019) in the District of Maine was the first criminal copyright infringement case where the FAIR USE of ORPHAN WORKS was allowed to be used as a defense.

I am still fighting my case, and I will post the entire story here as it progresses.

If you do the PACER thing, search in the District of Maine under case number 1:19-cr-00007-JAW, or you can read transcripts of the trial much cheaper on Amazon: UNITED STATES v. GORDON: The Orphan Works Trial.

I am currently working on my pro se 2255 motion, which challenges the process of how I was convicted. The motion was filed on 9/11/23, because I was having trouble getting my case file from my former attorney. Because I thought the statute of limitations was up in October of 2023, I filed a 'bare bones' 2255 to preserve the motion until I could fully explain my claims.

I also started working on a legal memorandum that supports the grounds for the 2255 motion.

I was transitioned to a halfway house on 1/16/24, and the government had already filed a motion to dismiss my 2255. I requested and was granted an extension to reply to the motion to dismiss. That reply is what I am going to share here in this blog as I work on it. As a legal layperson, I welcome all comments, suggestions, criticisms, and hate mail (I am unoffendable in this matter) as I believe I am fighting for a better copyright law and to make some progress on a workable system for public access to orphan works. Stay tuned!

#fairuse #orphanworks #weaponizationoffederalgovernment #criminalcopyrightinfringement