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A comment on Philip Greenspun: Aaron Swartz. Parent comment

Re:Philip Greenspun: Aaron Swartz by deadairspace on Saturday January 12, 2013 @03:40PM (#5048818)
"The English rule provides that the party who loses in court pays the other party's attorney's fees.

Nearly every Western democracy, other than the United States, follows the English rule."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_rule

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Re:Philip Greenspun: Aaron Swartz by conradev on Saturday January 12, 2013 @03:54PM (#5048858)
There was an interesting bill introduced into the House recently, the SHIELD, or "Saving High-tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes" act, which offsets the cost of a patent law dispute to the loser.

The issue of legal costs is not only relevant with federal criminal lawsuits, but also with smaller companies and "patent trolls". Taking this into consideration, the SHIELD act seems like a mere Band-Aid.

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Re:Philip Greenspun: Aaron Swartz by tedunangst on Saturday January 12, 2013 @10:09PM (#5049824)
That's civil court. How much does the crown pay for criminal defense?
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Re:Philip Greenspun: Aaron Swartz by msh on Monday January 14, 2013 @03:35PM (#5056491)
I dont know about england, but where I come from (denmark) if you win a criminal case you dont have to pay anything.

If you loose you have to pay for your own lawyers and any technical inquiries. You never have to pay for the prosecutions lawyers.

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