By Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 20 – In a lawsuit brought by Sony the correct meaning of natural evolution, Darwinistic or as term of art, was debated for an hour on March 20 before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff. Sony's lawyer began by pointing out the executives who traveled from Tokyo and London for this argument, at which there was only one media present: Inner City Press.
Judge Rakoff began by criticizing the pro hace vice lawyers for defendant EVS Codec Technologies, LLC for ignoring the local rules and not saying undisputed or disputed with citation for each paragraph in Sony's motion to dismiss. But Sony didn't provide citations either and on balance EVS Codec gave as good as it got. Did the covenant not to sue which only covered upgrades, enhancements and natural evolutions carry over to new codec (audio to 0/1 digital) technology?
It was EVS which better explained the differences between AMR to EVS, as Judge Rakoff returned several times to an analogy between the evolution, natural or otherwise, from the Model T to the Cadillac. Judge Rakoff said he will issue a "who will win" ruling in a week, with something longer to follow, in this case 1:18-cv-09518-JSR, Sony Mobile Communications Inc. v. EVS Codec Technologies, LLC. It's a big money case, but there was no other media covering it. It is hard to know, in the SDNY courthouse, what is going on; it is harder still to cover it with laptop and, yes, smart phone taken at the metal detectors. Is the entire courthouse, at least publicly, only about Trump? The beat goes on, between Bronx murders and attempts to seize the Colombian FARC rebels' condos and bank accounts with BB&T.
Across Pearl Street earlier on March 20, plaintiffs pursuing assets of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC before SDNY Judge Andrew L. Carter named the banks involved, including not only Citigroup, Safra and UBS but also BB&T, which is applying to the US Federal Reserve to buy Suntrust. The plaintiffs' lawyers described the bank accounts, condominia in the Four Seasons and luxury ships of 100 and 200 feet. Some are being pursued in Florida but also in New York. Judge Carter wanted to know the difference between the two actions. Raymond James, the financial institution, appeared to be the only answer. But on the kingpins and other banks, we'll have more. Back on March 6 in the SDNY a union official who pled guilty to insider trading last August was sentenced byJudge Alison Nathan to three month of imprisonment, apparently to be served in a half-way house in the Philadelphia area. While Judge Nathan said she'd read somewhen that Jhonatan Zoquier might go back to work for the union in an administrative position. But he says he's working construction for his uncle. He traded on inside information for a year, 17 times, with 9 trades profitable. He information was provided by Daniel Rivas, then of Bank of America. The government's sentencing submission said "they had known each other since childhood and lived together in New York as young adults. Rivas has repeatedly referred to Zoquier as his best friend. Zoquier refers to Rivas in his submission as “like a brother to him.” (Def. Let. at 12.) In March 2016, Zoquier began trading on Inside Information offered to him by Rivas, after Zoquier expressed the desire for additional money, including for his upcoming wedding. Zoquier ultimately traded in at least seventeen stocks based on information from Rivas, profitably so in nine stocks. Zoquier earned profits of more than $30,000 from his trading, between March 2016 and April 2017."Zoquier's lawyer told Judge Nathan, no one is watching this case to be deterred. But Inner City Press was there watching. And afterward it was wondered if the 90 days will take longer, if they will be served only on the weekends.
