United States v. Kevin Cogill

Outcome: 1 yr probation with 2 mo. home confinement.

Description: In the summer of 2008, five FBI agents with guns drawn arrested Kevin "Skwerl" Cogill for leaking tracks from the long-awaited Guns N Roses album Chinese Democracy. To say the government's behavior was excessive in this case is an understatement. Mr. Cogill had cooperated from the very beginning only to find himself arrested at gun-point for this non-violent copyright infringement crime. And the only reason for the arrest in this way--he told the agents the day before that he was hiring a lawyer. After successfully negotiating a plea deal to a misdemeanor, the government still sought restitution for RIAA (Recording Institute Association of America) in the amount of $2.0 million and a 6 month prison sentence for the number of infringements. A bit reckless in uploading the yet unpublished tracks, Mr. Cogill's motive was little more than to show other avid GNR fans that the album was on its way. After much discussion, the defense has now shown the government that the number of downloads from the infringement not attributable to Mr. Cogill. Moreover, the defense demonstrated that the entire album was on the internet a YEAR before Mr. Cogill ever received the tracks. The government finally relented, admitted it could not prove the number of infringements nor that the band lost any revenue--especially after GNR lead singer Axl Rose stated in an interview that the band hadn't suffered any financial loss as a result of the leak). The USAO still requested prison, but the Court agreed with the US Probation Office and the defense: straight probation was sufficient. However, the two month home confinement condition was to emphasize that as an artist himself, Mr. Cogill should have known better and should have shown more respect to the artists he admires. Overall, a very good result.