Mr. Hermann has over 15 years of experience representing clients in litigation matters under The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA was enacted to reach of copyright protection to encompass a variety of new technological methods for exchanging digital information. Under the DMCA it became unlawful to reconstruct and/or reverse engineer proprietary electronic hardware and/or software. The DMCA included a number of new “civil” seizure remedies allowing affected parties to petition the court for immediate confiscation of equipment that was allegedly used in violation of the DMCA.

 

Television Signal Theft Litigation

In 2002 several of the nation’s leading satellite and cable television providers began a nationwide campaign of suing purchasers of alleged “signal theft” devices for violating relevant provisions of the DMCA.  Purchases of the products (i.e. end users ) contended that the devices had a variety of legitimate uses and were therefore not illegal. Of the 25,000 suits that were filed nationwide, Mr. Hermann was the first attorney in the county to obtain an unconditional dismissal of the DMCA claims on behalf of one of his clients.

 

Peer-to-Peer Copyright Litigation

In 2003, the recording industry and its representative trade association began a campaign that would eventually result in over 25,000 individuals being sued for sharing song over a variety of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks. Many of the suspected individuals were children, grandparents, deceased individuals, who had never used computer much less a P2P file sharing system. The lawsuits were predicated on hundreds of thousands of uncontested “John Doe” subpoenas issued to various internet service providers (ISPs) forcing them to identify the name and identity of the internet account. Although the ISP could not identify or connect the accountholder to the alleged acts of infringement, the record companies through their representative trade association (i.e. Recording Industry  Association of America) insisted that the accountholders were liable for activity conducted through their internet accounts. Mr. Hermann was the first attorneys in the county to obtain an unconditional dismissal on behalf of one of the RIAA’s targets.

 

Bit Torrent Copyright Litigation

Beginning in 2011, several national law firms representing the interests of various adult film labels began a nationwide campaign targeting individuals who downloaded and/or exchanged digital versions of full length adult feature films over various Torrent networks. The attorneys and they clients that they purported to represent routinely sought payment of thousands of dollars in order to prevent the threat of public exposure and/or litigation. The parties to the litigation strategy were dubbed with the label of “Copyright Trolls” Mr. Hermann represented hundreds of individuals who were targeted with the demand letters and/or lawsuits. Working with other copyright defense attorneys across the country, Mr. Hermann was able expose the abusive tactics utilized by one or more law firms in furtherance of what was later determined to be an “extortion enterprise.” In 2017, the principal member one of the more notable copyright trolling firms pled guilty to money laundering and wire fraud in connection with the firms copyright litigation activities which netted over 11 million dollars during the three year period of operation.