New York disbars infamous copyright troll

Scope of Disbarment & What He Can Still Do

• Order bars him from: practicing law in any form, appearing as counsel, giving legal opinions or advice, and holding himself out as an attorney.
• Debate over letters post‑disbarment:
  • One side: he can still act as a non‑attorney “authorized representative.”
  • Others counter: saying “you are infringing copyright” and demanding payment is itself a legal opinion and could violate the order.

Why He Was Disbarred

• Multiple commenters stress the disbarment stems from repeated lies to courts, sanctions, and noncompliance, not from bringing copyright suits per se.
• He often did minimal pre‑filing research, sometimes missing existing licenses, and then compounded problems by misleading judges.
• A quoted judicial opinion describes a long pattern of sanctions and court-resource waste.

Is Copyright Trolling Inherently Shady?

• Some argue the core problem is a scale-based, automated “spray-and-pray” model:
  • High false-positive rates.
  • Coercive settlements (“pay a little to avoid huge litigation costs”) even when targets may be innocent or covered by fair use or licenses.
• Others defend legitimate enforcement for small photographers, especially against large publishers that refuse to pay.
• Disagreement over whether a specialized copyright-enforcement practice can exist without drifting into trolling.

Appropriate Punishment: Disbarment vs Prison

• Some call for prison or racketeering charges, arguing this is extortion from a trusted officer of the court and victims aren’t made whole.
• Others see prison as disproportionate for nonviolent conduct and prefer monetary sanctions or community service.
• Discussion that fraud and extortion can be criminal even without violence, but evidentiary standards for conviction are higher than for disbarment.

Licensing, Trust, and Professional Discipline

• One view: revoking professional licenses as punishment is unfair; only criminal law should apply.
• Counterview: licenses are about trust and preventing harm (analogy to revoking a driver’s license for dangerous behavior).
• Meta-debate: disciplinary systems may be used instead of criminal prosecution; concern that the legal profession is reluctant to criminally charge lawyers for misconduct.

Broader System Critiques & Anecdotes

• Copyright and patent trolling likened to protection rackets, with huge value destruction and power imbalances.
• Examples of small creators and emulator businesses allegedly crushed by litigation costs from much larger entities.
• Note that many states lack permanent disbarment; in the relevant state, reinstatement is possible after several years.