Judge Tells John Steele To Stop Mass Suing Anonymous People For File Sharing

from the time-to-shift-courts dept

Divorce-lawyer-turned-mass-P2P-lawsuit-filer John Steele hasn't had much luck with his legal strategy (though, he has been able to shake some cash out of people who settle too quickly), getting shot down a few times for his fishing expedition. Apparently he filed another such suit earlier this month, only to realize that it had been assigned to the same judge who's been slamming him -- and Steele quickly tried to drop the case entirely. The judge, Milton Shadur, wasn't going to let Steele off the hook without yet another scolding, as highlighted by Ars Technica. Judge Shadur made it clear, yet again, that he does not appreciate Steele's legal efforts here, and does not want to see any more such cases. He does point out that Steele is free to "pursue the normal path of suing an identifiable (and identified) defendant or defendants" rather than the mass dragnet. Of course, this won't stop Steele, but it does seem likely that he'll just drop any cases assigned to Judge Shadur. Of course, if more judges follow Judge Shadur's lead, hopefully he'll quickly run out of courts to file these questionable lawsuits.
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Filed Under: copyright, fishing expedition, john steele


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  • identicon
    Donnicton, 25 May 2011 @ 3:58pm

    He actually had two suits end up with Shadur on the dockett, that one included. He yanked both of them when he realized what judge was assigned to them.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    RIAAL, 25 May 2011 @ 4:27pm

    So how long tell someone has that "judge" removed from the bench? We can't have judges preventing people from being stripped of their rights.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    mike allen (profile), 25 May 2011 @ 11:28pm

    how come Steele has not been struck off or whatever you do when you stop a lawyer practising in the USA.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Christopher (profile), 26 May 2011 @ 2:56am

    We will keep on saying this FOREVER: An IP address is not equal to a specific person, even if that person is paying for the connection in question.

    They could have had a friend use their connection, a relative use their connection, etc.

    These lawyers really need to get up with technology in the world today.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      That Anonymous Coward, 26 May 2011 @ 5:30pm

      Re:

      These Judges really need to get up with technology in the world today.

      There I fixed that for you.
      The Judges are going on the claims of the lawyers that they will bring these alleged criminals to justice if they get the names associated with the accounts.
      What is really happening is they are trying, often successfully, to scare the account holders into accepting a settlement to avoid the public shaming of being associated with "porn".
      People remember the accusations, never the outcome.
      When your pushed into a corner of having to defend yourself halfway across the country against charges of watching a movie that would make Larry Flynnt vomit, if you see the easy out you take it.
      While some of the account holders might be able to provide details leading to the actual infringer,most of these firms do not bother to do that far.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Derek Kerton (profile), 26 May 2011 @ 12:03pm

    Scolding

    I'm shocked that these severe "scoldings" aren't stopping the pursuit of frivolous infringement lawsuits.

    Perhaps we should lobby for a law where the perpetrators of these fishing expeditions are instead given a "scalding". One switched vowel, and the disincentive to sue innocent people would free the court's time for more important work.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Bnesaladur (profile), 26 May 2011 @ 5:40pm

    @RIAAL

    I think the problem here, and if you actually read the story before lashing out in defense of your opinion you will see that I am right, is that these lawyers are not trying to prevent people from "being stripped of their rights." What is actually going on is fraudulent lawsuits and blackmail.

    As stated in the article, Mr. Steele is free to "pursue the normal path of suing an identifiable (and identified) defendant or defendants." Maybe you just missed this but it is a important part of the story.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 May 2011 @ 9:48am

    I love Shadur! All the other judges should follow his lead and crush the likes of steele.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    lrobbo (profile), 12 Jun 2012 @ 10:20am

    If only they would follow his lead . . .

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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