Has Davenport Lyons' Copyright Shakedown Business Gone Under A New Name?
from the hunting-and-pecking dept
We've had a bunch of stories about UK law firm Davenport Lyons, who build up quite a reputation for sending "shakedown" style letters to people accused of copyright infringement. However, the letters were sent out so broadly that they were sent to many innocent people, leading to widespread claims that the whole thing was a shakedown. Rather than actually gathering evidence, the company was just making money by getting a certain percentage of recipients to pay up. Highlighting this point: the law firm never actually took anyone to court over those letters.As the firm was exposed, it led some customers to back away, realizing the harm it was doing to its own brand. The firm hadn't made much noise on this front lately, but the folks over at TorrentFreak heard about a bunch of very similar letters going out recently and, after investigating them, noticed way too many similarities to Davenport Lyons -- including an identical customer list and the fact that a Word doc on this new firm's (ACS Law) site was created in a copy of Word registered to... Davenport Lyons.
Apparently, rather than reforming, they just decided that it would be better to try to appear as someone different and start pulling the same trick all over again.
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Filed Under: copyright, shakedown, uk
Companies: acs law, davenport lyons
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So many unanswered questions.
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Re:
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Why would they
Doing this only makes them look even more guilty.
I hope they all go out of business, a-holes.
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I'm in! This is a kickass scam!
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I recently inherit a lot money from Prince M'bouto
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Wouldn't it be sweet...
that copy of word is "pirated."
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I'm not sure but...
Is there not a law like this in the UK? If so and the letter said if you do not respond win 30days legal actions will be taken. I would wait 30 more days after said date and file a complaint and law suite against them. I'm sure there are several Lawyers out there that will work the case for just a percentage of the ruling.(class action anyone)
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Is it normal to make demands like this 21 months later? They provide dates and times and some other 'brief' details, but who the hell would remember those things from that long ago?
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Davenport Lyons
Trevor Sears,Davenport Lyons` senior partner,has already been proven to have been passing himself off for almost seven years as a licensed insolvecy practitioner after becoming disqualified, has made false allegations to Surrey Police and in 2004, in the ABTA v Haider case, was found to have unlawfully impounded the passport of a British citizen for nbearly a year. All this is factual, although many more outstanding allegations against him remain, including conspiracy, racist abuse,death threats and many instances of fraud and deception.
He remains in situ owing to his close association with senior officers of the Metropolitan Police, which he has often even boasted about. In fact, he is even working with the force as part of Operation Sterling at present, despite his appalling record.
Need I say more?
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