[Infowarrior] - 5th RIAA Lawyer to Justice Dept.

[Richard Forno]

Obama Taps 5th RIAA Lawyer to Justice Dept.
By David Kravets EmailApril 13, 2009 | 4:52:49 PM

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/04/obama-taps-fift.html

Riaalogo President Barack Obama is tapping another RIAA attorney into  
the Justice Department.

Monday's naming of Ian Gershengorn, to become the department's deputy  
assistant attorney of the Civil Division, comes more than a week after  
nearly two-dozen public interest groups, trade pacts and library  
coalitions urged the new president to quit filling his administration  
with lawyers plucked from the Recording Industry Association of America.

The move makes it five RIAA lawyers Obama has appointed to the Justice  
Department.

Picture_28 Gershengorn, left, a partner with RIAA-firm Jenner & Block,  
represented the labels against Grokster (.pdf) and will be in charge  
of the DOJ Federal Programs Branch. That's the unit that just told a  
federal judge the Obama administration supports monetary damages as  
high as $150,000 per purloined music track on a peer-to-peer file  
sharing program.

In addition to Gershengorn, the other Jenner & Block attorneys  
appointed to the Justice Department include:

*Donald Verrilli, associate deputy attorney general — the No. 3 in the  
DOJ, who unsuccessfully urged a federal judge to uphold the $222,000  
file sharing verdict against Jammie Thomas.

*Tom Perrilli, as Verrilli's former boss, the Justice Department's No.  
2 argued in 2002 that internet service providers should release  
customer information to the RIAA even without a court subpoena.

*Brian Hauck, counsel to associate attorney general, worked on the  
Grokster case on behalf of the record labels.

*Ginger Anders, assistant to the solicitor general, litigated on the  
Cablevision case.