[deogeo]

Abuse of the legal system is definitely a legislative problem - the law has to work reasonably in the real world, not in some idealized, frictionless vacuum.

As for a solution - non-prejudicial defensive trials (I made that phrase up). Under this system, if someone sues you, you can at first ignore it. You'd get assigned a public defender, that would try to do a reasonably acceptable job defending you. You could cooperate with this defender, or ignore him. This defender will conduct a sort of mock trial. If you're found not guilty in this trial, then the lawsuit can't proceed, and you've lost no time or money. Only if you're found guilty (or infringing, or whatever outcome you don't like), can it then proceed to a real trial.

A sort of enhanced filter on whether a lawsuit has merit.

[ryanlol]

The legal system wasn’t even involved here, it’s just a letter.

What you’re proposing would make civil suits vastly more expensive, making them even less accessible for the little guy.

[deogeo]

The very real threat of the legal system was used, backed up by the terrifying financial reality of a good legal defense. You can't honestly say that means the legal system wasn't involved. An easy test is - if the system were different, could the threat be less severe?

And I don't see why a preliminary ruling would mean 'vastly' more expensive - you can mostly re-use your work in the real case. And if it turns out to be without merit, you've saved yourself a lot of money. In the very, very worst case scenario, this system would cost 2x as much for the offense, and be vastly cheaper for the defense side. Definitely preferable to the current reality, where you can be forced to spend an arbitrary amount on legal defense.