Sven Luther writes: > On Fri, Jul 23, 2004 at 03:50:33PM +0100, MJ Ray wrote: > >> IIRC, there is no requirement for a private individual to be >> represented by a lawyer in an English court, although many are. >> Additionally, the case would probably be heard in the appropriate >> court nearest to the defendant, so travel costs are minimal, and there >> may be Legal Aid available. Therefore, the need to hire a lawyer local >> to Versailles is a significant additional expense an abusive licensor >> can make the defendant pay, apparently on a whim. > > Well, some could argue that you could directly write to the judge then, and > explain why the claim of the upstream author should not apply, and maybe make > mention of the harrasment you are suffering from his part. > > I am not familiar with this kind of stuff, so if you have hard evidence that > this would not be possible, please tell me about this.
I don't know about French courts, but I suspect they have procedural rules on how one does things just like US courts do. In the US, you can go to a court in person, fill out forms, and the staff will often tell you whether you meet the forms' requirements. They will not give advice on how to word them, but you can at least know you put the right words in the right blanks, and you can read public filings from the past to see what worked and what did not. These forms vary from court to court, as do the deadlines and requirements for submission (online, registered mail, in person, etc). Many, but not all, courts now have those requirements listed online; and you may still have to appear in person for certain steps. Examples of that are pre-trial conferences, where both sides must be physically present (either in person or through counsel) before the judge, so that they can efficiently agree on scheduling and procedural issues. That's the general answer to your question. The more specific answer is that a simple letter will not meet any requirements for a case to be dismissed in the USA. A defendant who wants a case dismissed has to file a motion, usually a memorandum in support, the opposing side (the person who filed the case) gets a chance to rebut, etc. It is very easy for a novice to make mistakes that cause the motion to fail on procedural grounds. Details of the French system will of course be different, but unless they think very differently about procedural matters, it should be comparable. Michael Poole
