Both plaintiffs’ lawyers signed an obviously time-barred copyright infringement complaint in violation of Rule 11, U.S. District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz (D. Minn.) found. It seems that they were only spared from punishment by virtue of the fact that their adversaries failed to step through the procedural hoops necessary to unleash the Court’s wrath. So now do the defendants have some kind of claim against their lawyers for failing to follow the court rules? Presumably they could have gotten some kind of fee shifting or other recompense? Or maybe not? Presumably the defendants are simply happy to have this case behind them and they probably did not want to incur the expense of pulling together legit Rule 11 “safe harbor” papers.