This is a cautionary tale.
Don't follow the lead of copyright attorney Richard Liebowitz.
In the Usherson v. Bandshell Artist Management case, Mr. Liebowitz made violated court orders, lied to the Court, and failed to perform a reasonable pre-filing investigation (see Opinion, copy on Mega.nz). As a result of these actions, the Court sanctions him and his law firm jointly and severally sanctioned for $103,517.49. In addition to the monetary sanctions, the court ordered Mr. Liebowitz to send a copy of this Opinion to each of his current clients, to file it on the docket of any pending cases, and to file it on the docket of any new cases for the next year. Additionally, for the next year, the court ordered Mr. Liebowitz to attach to any complaint alleging copyright infringement a copy of the US Copyright Office's deposit files for the registered works. Finally, the court referred the matter to the Court's Grievance Committee.
Image by chermida on Flickr