Originally Posted by JimmyStephans

I am guessing that some of you guys have never been in a case where they negotiate back and forth like this. Offer one thing, withdraw it, offer another, and back and forth.

Few main things to keep in mind.

1 is that the offer was withdrawn in 1-2 days, and if you look at the dates you see the Randazza guy was hard as heck on Oron after those offers in court.

2 is that Randazza is paid by Liberty. While he would love to do this for all website owners his first obligation is to Liberty and to maximize the settlement in favor of the client that is paying him (even if not perfect for ALL webmasters).

3 We all could have hired him BEFORE Liberty did and we ALL could have gone after Oron before Liberty did. We didn't - and for those of you that visit the XBiz forum you might remember that back in April there was a topic going about many people putting in money for a suit like this and only ONE person ever sent a dime. Just one person... seems hundreds of webmasters had the chance to get involved and didn't.

4 Strategically, Liberty / Randazza might be pulling the smartest move available. $400,000 settlement is one thing. A $250,000 with Oron that includes all user data might very well be better... because that user data would do two things... bring future settlements with direct uploaders and take those direct uploaders out of actions forever!

He might be the smartest damn lawyer in the business - but he is acting in the best interests of his client as he is obligated to do - and that might not seem great to you and me, but damn he sure is taking care of the guys PAYING HIM.