Comcast, Verizon Ordered To ID Subscribers In Copyright Trolling Suit
from the shakedown-city dept
While we've seen plenty of judges recognize that copyright troll outfits suing a bunch of people at once for copyright infringement are really nothing more than a fishing expedition to identify people to be sent demand letters for payment, it appears a few judges still don't recognize how this is a serious abuse of the legal process. toyotabedzrock alerts us to the news that U.S. District Court Judge Alexander Williams in Maryland has ordered Comcast and Verizon to turn over names in two cases involving (of course) porn companies. What's even more ridiculous here is that Judge Williams should clearly recognize that these cases were almost certainly legal shakedowns, rather than actual cases, because one of the companies involved, Patrick Collins Inc, immediately dropped the case against one of the John Does sued because that defendant got himself a lawyer. If that doesn't indicate that the company doesn't actually want to fight these cases in court, but just wants to get the names to send demand letters, it's difficult to know what would convince the judge.
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Filed Under: copyright trolls, identities
Companies: comcast, verizon
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And on a side note: "Oh, they are at it again?"
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I'm sure that these fine upstanding pr0n companies provided many gigabytes of, um, er.... evidence, yeah, that's the word evidence of what was allegedly stolen. I'm sure the judge carefully reviewed all of that evidence. Multiple times. He possibly had to take a several hour break between each legal review session of the evidence.
The judge probably has never had a big hard di(s)k with so many gigabytes of, um, evidence, without having to pay for it, and without any fear of malware.
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“Ex-judge Camp sentenced to 30 days in prison” by Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 11, 2011
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The only difference here is copyright trolls don't have to restrict themselves to just one district and judge to make money. They just file the same lawsuits everywhere until one place gives them what they want, a list of names to shakedown.
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Your always going to have the 1 in a million that may end up in court, but I'm betting it's a fair gamble.
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You are a lawyer, and you charge a small fee for sending a letter stating that you represent the accused.
Most of these case will be dropped, so no further expense for the lawyer or the accused. The lawyer can therefor keep the price low, and work in bulk. Sort of a white hat version of what these shakedown artist are doing.
Note that the lawyer is not comitted at that point. He just get paid to send the letter. Possibly even automated (just fill in a form on the web page).
If the case moves forward, the accused can then decide if they want full legal support or not. Its even possible that the fees from all the cases that get dropped (while individually small) will cover any cases that does not - and drive more customers to this particular lawyer.
Market economy at its finest :)
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Sounds like something the patent office would rubber stamp...... hmmmmm...
Did we just figure out how patent trolls are born!!!????? Fucking Creepy!!!!!
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Judge Alexander Williams is an asshole! That's all there is to it.
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Re: Judge Alexander Williams is an asshole! That's all there is to it.
Please keep up with the Techdirt playbook already, willya?
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Re: Re: Judge Alexander Williams is an asshole! That's all there is to it.
The lengths that you go to support businesses that fail to adapt is astounding.
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1- The Judge might not be informed on what has happened to over 200,000 people in this country. I dunno how but it is possible.
2- Not a single one of these Judges has demanded anything beyond the letter from the "expert" that the IP gathering software is perfect. As several of them are spin off firms from one German firm, it looks like a large ecosystem rather than 1 firm hedging against their methods being thrown out and sinking all cases.
3- While I know its a scam, you know its a scam, the lawyers know its a scam they are still operating within the legal framework, in some cases the Judges are becoming aware but this knowledge does not seem to spread. See Evan Stone sanctions and the upcoming rule 11b smack down in the k-beech case.
4- Until the DOJ wants to get off their ass and actually look into the extortion being done with the information gathered using the courts, we are screwed. This is the darkside of the copyright cartel. They must be right, they are being robbed blind by these bad people and we should help them out. They are suing 70 yr olds and blind people, FOR PORN... this really should raise some red flags.
They have almost exhausted these cases here in the US, and now are moving onto Canada and Australia. There are scammer firms setup that are actively seeding files with embedded links to a "DRM server" where some people enter their information in the hopes of free porn and instead get a you stole and we can prove it now pay us $450 V/MC Welcome.
And if you read TD with any regularity you know there is forthcoming copyright fix. They are trying to give the cartel more power and screw the people that much more. How much longer can this go on until we end up with more Occupy protests. The 1% declared war and now our elected officials at every level are showing who they answer to - See Occupy Oakland. To used tear gas, flash bangs, and injure citizens over fears for "public safety" when your the ones making it unsafe for citizens. One would think a Mayor would remember they can be pulled out of office but the people dumb enough to have put them there.
But I digress....
These cases are all still legally "permissible" because no one has managed to establish any case law stopping it. Mainly because Howell ruled Does have no standing until named, and they never name anyone who doesn't admit they did it.
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Yes there are a few cases where Motions from various does come streaming in, but by and large, the only person telling the Judge anything is the plaintiff attorney. He is obligated by the rules of conduct to not mislead the court.
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Copyright Trolls
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