>----------------------------------------- >This article from The Chronicle of Higher Education >(http://chronicle.com) > >http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/05/2003052301t.htm > >-------------------------------------------------------- > Friday, May 23, 2003 > > Web Author Files Second Copyright Lawsuit Against Colleges and Others > > By DAN CARNEVALE > > An author who had filed a multibillion-dollar > copyright-infringement lawsuit against 20 colleges in federal > court has filed a new suit in a California state court. This > time he alleges that the institutions also committed > racketeering and obstruction of justice. > > Paul Andrew Mitchell, the author, complains in the suit filed > last month that excerpts of his book have been posted on > several Web sites that run on computer servers at colleges and > universities. Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the > Ninth Circuit is considering his appeal of a federal judge's > January 2002 decision to throw out Mr. Mitchell's earlier > lawsuit. > > In the new suit, Mr. Mitchell is asking for $5.2-billion in > damages from over 100 defendants, including businesses like > AOL Time Warner and the same 20 colleges named in the earlier > case, among them the California Insitute of Technology, > Carnegie Mellon University, and Princeton University. His new > lawsuit makes several allegations, including "tampering with > and retaliation against a qualified federal witness, > interstate transportation of stolen property, obstruction of > justice, obstruction of criminal investigations, obstruction > of state and local law enforcement, peonage, and slavery." > > Carnegie Mellon has filed a motion seeking to have the new > case moved from state to federal court, on the grounds that > racketeering is a federal crime. > > Mr. Mitchell's initial federal case was based on assertions > that the organizations he was suing had not done enough to > prevent excerpts of his book from appearing on Web sites on > their computer servers. > > The book, The Federal Zone: Cracking the Code of Internal > Revenue, which he published online in 1992, argues that the > 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows the > federal government to collect income taxes, was ratified > illegally. Mr. Mitchell maintains that the Internal Revenue > Service has no authority to force anyone in the 50 states to > pay income taxes -- only those people in federal territories > have to pay, he says. > > The book, which can be purchased at Mr. Mitchell's Web site, > has found an underground following and has been circulated > widely, he says. Unfortunately, he says, much of that > circulation has been through improper postings on Web sites, > including those on servers owned by companies and colleges. > > Neither Mr. Mitchell nor officials from Carnegie Mellon could > be reached for comment on Thursday. > >_________________________________________________________________ > >You may visit The Chronicle as follows: > > http://chronicle.com > >_________________________________________________________________ >Copyright 2003 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
--- You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected]
