Lolcow LLC v. Fong Jones is on.
Hardin seems to be seeking a "Declatory Judgement".
He's suing LFJ in New York under 28 USC paragraph 2201
(a) In a case of actual controversy within its jurisdiction, except with respect to Federal taxes other than actions brought under section 7428 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, a proceeding under section 505 or 1146 of title 11, or in any civil action involving an antidumping or countervailing duty proceeding regarding a class or kind of merchandise of a free trade area country (as defined in section 516A(f)(9) of the Tariff Act of 1930), as determined by the administering authority, any court of the United States, upon the filing of an appropriate pleading, may declare the rights and other legal relations of any interested party seeking such declaration, whether or not further relief is or could be sought. Any such declaration shall have the force and effect of a final judgment or decree and shall be reviewable as such.
So LFJ threatened to sue Null for copyright infringement, but Null claims that copyrighted materials were used in the context of protected Fair Use criticism, so that doesn't constitute a copyright violation.
If I understand this correctly, Null wants the NY court to affirm that KiwiFarms has a Fair Use right enable users to criticize public figures such as LFJ, including the use of copyrighted materials such as a Bsky post or a troon's glamour shot as part of that Fair Use criticism, and since such a judgement under USC 28 section 2201 has
"the force and effect of final judgement", then LJF will not be able to file the copyright lolsuits he's been threatening to file against KF. So Null is using USC 28 to pre-empt LFJ carrying out his legal threats.
I have a question about this statement though, in paragraph 8 on page 3:
On information and belief, Fong-Jones is a citizen of either Australia and Canada and is not a citizen of the United States.
I thought Liz Fong Jones had moved to China for some tech gig there after Trump got elected? I remember him posting a screenshot of his itinerary to China on social media, but it was a while back so might have moved elsewhere since.
Under paragraph 12 on page 5, Hardin writes:
Additionally, this Court has diversity jurisdiction pursuant to 28 USC paragraph 1332(a) because the Plaintiff is a West Virginia LLC with its sole member being a domiciliary of Florida, and (on information and belief) Defendant is a citizen of foreign country and is not domiciled in either West Virginia or Florida.
I don't know if LFJ can credibly invoke "forum shopping", given that he filed a lolsuit against Vincent all the way in Australia, also the Brooklyn apartment coupled with the NY lawfirm are together undeniable forum contact with NY, but he still might pull such a move. I am more interested in what the legal argument is for the claim that Fair Use rights trump copyright grievances. Maybe if Null can convince the NY court that LFJ's copyright complaint about the Bsky post and the glamour shot were prima facie in bad faith.
I'm gonna do a little more research into 28 USC later to see if other social media platforms have used that particular law to pre-empt bad faith copyright lolsuits that violate Fair Use rights.
