this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2026
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AI Company Clones Musician’s Voice, Then Copyright-Strikes Her Own Songs (rudevulture.com)
submitted 6 hours ago by 0x0@lemmy.zip to c/technology@lemmy.world
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As crappy as it sounds.

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[–] orclev@lemmy.world 20 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

You can pretty much always assume that's the case with the US legal system. The lawyers always win, sometimes their clients do as well but that's a lot rarer.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 9 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (3 children)

The lawyers always win

Not always

Steven Robert Donziger (born September 14, 1961) is an American former attorney known for his legal battles with Chevron, particularly Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc. and other cases in which he represented over 30,000 farmers and Indigenous people who suffered environmental damage and health problems caused by oil drilling in the Lago Agrio oil field of Ecuador. The Ecuadorian court awarded the plaintiffs $9.5 billion ($13 billion in 2024 dollars) in damages, which led Chevron to withdraw its assets from Ecuador and launch legal action against Donziger in the US. In 2011, Chevron filed a RICO (anti-corruption) suit against Donziger in New York City. The case was heard by US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who determined that the ruling of the Ecuadorian court could not be enforced in the US because it was procured by fraud, bribery, and racketeering activities. As a result of this case, Donziger was disbarred from practicing law in New York in 2018.

Donziger was placed under house arrest in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of criminal contempt of court, which arose during his appeal against Kaplan's RICO decision, when he refused to turn over electronic devices he owned to Chevron's forensics experts. In July 2021, US District Judge Loretta Preska found him guilty, and Donziger was sentenced to 6 months in jail in October 2021. While Donziger was under house arrest in 2020, twenty-nine Nobel laureates described the actions taken by Chevron against him as "judicial harassment." Human rights campaigners called Chevron's actions an example of a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP). In April 2021, six members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus demanded that the Department of Justice review Donziger's case. In September 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the pre-trial detention imposed on Donziger was illegal and called for his release. Having spent 45 days in prison and a combined total of 993 days under house arrest, Donziger was released on April 25, 2022

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 2 points 1 hour ago

The legal system is designed to benefit the rich and big business.

Same goes for the copyright system.

Both need to be abolished and replaced with something that serves the people.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Which lawyers? Clearly Chevron's lawyers were able to absolve all their liability so they definitely won.

Furthermore, Chevron extracted close to 30 billion dollars of petroleum and left an environmental disaster behind. Chevron even counter sued and was awarded an addition 3 billion in damages that was reduced to 220 million for Ecuador daring to try and hold a US corporation responsible.

Not only did Chevron prevail they continued the harassment of Steven keeping him under confinement for years and preventing him from practicing law.

[–] Chronographs@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 hours ago

I was expecting that to end with him killing himself with two bullets to the back of the head