I'm an Engineer, Not a Lawyer, Dammit!*

But I need to remember this Latin phrase, "Tu Stupri Cognati Mihi".

It translates to, "Are you f%$#ing kidding me."

I wondering if a lawyer would actually have the guts use this in court.

The source is Cory Doctorow, in a discussion of Disney's insistence that when it when it went on its merger and acquisition orgy a few years back, that it acquired the rights to publish the works, but not the responsibility to pay royalties:

The contract lawyer's technical term for this is tu stupri cognati mihi ("are you f%$#ing kidding me") (I made that up, but it really should be true). In truth, this "we only acquire assets, not liabilities" argument is grounded in the idea that the workers Disney stole from couldn't afford to fight them.

When people defend our current draconian copyright regime to, "Protect the artist," they mean nothing of the sort.

It's about maintaining and extending public subsidies to the already rich and powerful.

^*I love it when I get to go all Dr. McCoy!