UMG Recordings v. Lindor
UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Lindor, 531 F. Supp. 2d 453 (2007). Decided in E.D.N.Y..
- COURT
- E.D.N.Y.
- DECIDED
- 2007
- CITATION
- 531 F. Supp. 2d 453
- OUTCOME
- Admitted
- STANDARD
- Daubert / Rule 702
- CITED BY
- 11 later opinions (CourtListener)
The defendant's motion in limine to exclude the plaintiffs' forensic computer examiner was denied. He was permitted to opine on KaZaA file sharing and on linking anonymous internet activity to the defendant's IP address.
Every entry in this docket was written from the opinion itself, and this is the copy that was read. If the opinion does not support what is written here, the entry is wrong — tell us and it will be corrected or removed rather than softened.
READ THE OPINIONUMG Recordings v. Lindor, 531 F. Supp. 2d 453↗COURTLISTENER · FREE LAW PROJECT · OPENS IN THE SAME TAB
The court’s reasoning
The witness held a Ph.D. in computer engineering and was certified as a Forensic Computer Examiner. The court found his analysis required virtually no subjective judgement, and he testified that others in the field would proceed the same way and that no more reliable method was available. The Daubert factors are non-exclusive, and experience may supply a sufficient foundation.
From the opinion
“Jacobson's testimony requires virtually no subjective analysis.”
Grounds argued
This ruling turned on 2 of the eight arguments that recur across the docket. Each is defined the same way on every entry, so the same ground can be followed across rulings that reached opposite results.
- Methodology
- Whether the steps the examiner took are a recognised way of answering the question asked, and whether they were followed as described. Most digital-forensics rulings turn on this rather than on anything the field would call science.
- Tool reliability
- Whether the software or hardware used — an imaging tool, a carving engine, an extraction platform — produces accurate results, and whether the examiner can say how that is known. Courts rarely require a tool to be validated from first principles, but they do expect the examiner to know its limits.
Practice note
Terms used on this page
Every term below is defined in the forensic glossary — what it is, why a case turns on it, and what happens in the matter when it is mishandled.
Rulings on the same grounds
One ruling is not a rule. These are the other entries in the docket argued on the same grounds, most-cited first — including the ones that came out the other way, which are the ones worth reading before relying on this entry for anything.
ON METHODOLOGY
- Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals 509 U.S. 579 (1993) ADMITTED
- Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael 526 U.S. 137 (1999) EXCLUDED
- General Electric Co. v. Joiner 522 U.S. 136 (1997) EXCLUDED
- Wellogix v. Accenture 716 F.3d 867 (2013) ADMITTED
ON TOOL RELIABILITY
- Krause v. State 243 S.W.3d 95 (2007) ADMITTED
- United States v. Chiaradio 684 F.3d 265 (2012) ADMITTED
- United States v. Hill 818 F.3d 289 (2016) ADMITTED
- In re Digital Music Antitrust Litigation 321 F.R.D. 64 (2017) ADMITTED
If an opinion in your case has to survive the argument this ruling turned on — or you need one tested before it is served — Law & Forensics retains court-tested digital forensic expert witnesses and forensic neutrals.
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Attorney advertising / expert services. Each entry summarises a decision as it appeared in the opinion linked from that entry, on the day the entry was written. Decisions are reversed, vacated, superseded, and distinguished, and the text of Federal Rule of Evidence 702 was itself amended effective 1 December 2023 — check the current status and subsequent history of any ruling before relying on it. Nothing here is legal advice, none of it is a prediction about how any court will rule, and it is not a substitute for the rules, standing orders and case law of your own forum.