In the End

In the end, this litigation, like all frivolous litigation, did nothing for the parties involved. The only thing enriched was the legal system - the lawyers, clerks and judges - all working under the cloak and auspices of fairness and justice perpetuated a petty dispute into a major event. Anyone could, just as the jury did, look at the two sets of plans and conclude that they were not copies of one another. Yet legal briefs were made, filed, responded to, considered, thought about, and rebutted - for seven painful years.

Legal bill after bill came - clerks dutifully filed the paper work and collected paychecks, judges and magistrates thoughtfully read motion after motion and ruled, continuing the game, collecting pay checks of their own. It was hard to figure out how the system continued on, or why. What was the point? Was it fairness, or self importance of the people deciding? Was it the grandeur of the law? Who benefited?

In the end, the people in the system benefited, stirring a pot of nothing into income.

Vermont Timber Works Wins Fees from Timberpeg!

From Case 1:03-cv-00462-SM Document 236 Filed 09/30/10 "....the
court will award the prevailing defendants $35,000.00 in
attorney’s fees."

In this case, Timberpeg demanded $25,000 from VTW to settle a copyright infringement case when Isbitski, our mutual client, chose to build with VTW instead of Timberpeg. After seven brutal years of legal battle, Vermont Timber Works has prevailed and Timberpeg must pay VTW $35,000.00.

While the award of fees is not nearly enough to cover all the legal costs in the case, hopefully it will deter litigants from pursuing copyright infringement cases that are fundamentally weak on the merits.