Thought Prenda Was Dead? No, It's Up To Its Old Tricks... And More

from the they-just-don't-quit dept

Thu, Apr 25th 2013 10:42am — Mike Masnick

Even as Prenda supposedly lays dying, it appears that Team Prenda is up to the same old tricks under a new name. As detailed by FightCopyrightTrolls, Paul Duffy appears to be playing the same game Prenda has played before. Back in December, we wrote about Prenda's big bag of tricks in trying to get names associated with IP addresses using any means necessary. It involved a series of "tricks" involving a specific state court, a single named "defendant" but with claimed "co-conspirators" who are not named other than by a long list of IP addresses (but whom Team Prenda will argue cannot intervene in the case because they're not named parties), a questionable charge of hacking under the CFAA conflated with copyright claims (which are meaningless in state court), followed quickly by the "defendant" agreeing to some sort of "settlement" that grants Team Prenda the right to do discovery on the "co-conspirators" such that Prenda can send out the subpoenas, get info back from ISPs and then begin the usual copyright trolling shakedown. Read that bag of tricks link above to get the full story.

As FCT's article shows, it appears that even as John Steele, Paul Hansmeier and Paul Duffy have been facing very, very critical courts in multiple states -- with some even suggesting that they've been violating criminal laws -- it appears that at least some of them are still doing the same old thing. Paul Duffy just recently filed one of these lawsuits, once again in St. Clair County Illinois. And, just like before, the lawyer on the other side was Adam Urbanczyk -- the lawyer who is on the other side on a whole bunch of the cases that quickly "settled," allowing discovery. This willingness to settle and grant discovery already had one judge question if Urbanczyk and Prenda were "in bed together," and in at least one Prenda case, a defendant has admitted that Prenda more or less offered him a "deal" if he would do that kind of settlement. And, just as in the past, Urbanczyk's client quickly "settled" and "agreed" to allow widespread discovery with little limit.

Because judges like to clear out their dockets nice and quick and a "settlement" looks good, this one was approved, allowing Paul Duffy to subpoena a wide variety of ISPs for customer data. Not surprisingly, threat letters soon followed officially from the "Duffy Law Group." Just as before, the letters basically say "pay up or you'll get sued," and (of course) misrepresent the basics of the law and the likelihood of damages in any lawsuit. Of course, as FCT also notes, at least some of the threat letters appear to have been sent out after the "Duffy Law Group" was involuntarily dissolved. But, apparently it's still going...

What's truly amazing is not just that they're up to the exact same tricks, but that this is all going on while they're getting slammed in other courts for some of these same practices. It's really quite incredible. It's too bad that the judge in the St. Clair Court appears to have rubber stamped the settlement. Either way, it does make you wonder if some of the judges in these other cases that are exploring Prenda's practices might be interested in knowing the details of the threat letters coming from the no-longer-existent "Duffy Law Group."

137659135 012213 13 L 0015 Agreed Discovery Order With Isp List 1 (PDF)137659135 012213 13 L 0015 Agreed Discovery Order With Isp List 1 (Text)

137660162 Duffy Demand (PDF)137660162 Duffy Demand (Text)

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Filed Under: john steele, paul duffy, paul hansmeier
Companies: duffy law group, prenda

36 Comments

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Atkray (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 9:52am

I couldn't help but notice
Duffy claims in his extortion ummmm, I mean settlement letter that "My office has obtained default judgements in excess of $150,000 against individuals who have failed to answer my client's claims"

Has anyone verified that?
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- fogbugzd (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 10:24am
  
  Re: I couldn't help but notice
  I think $150,000 is the statutory amount. If someone didn't show up and the judge did the statutory rate that is likely the amount to be chosen. So it has at least plausible that they have gotten default a judgement in that amount.
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  - Scote, 25 Apr 2013 @ 10:48am
    
    Re: Re: I couldn't help but notice
    $150,000 is the statutory amount in a **copyright** case with a registered copyright, yet these cases, IIRC, purport not to be copyright cases, hence why they are in state court.
    
    One wonders if the conflation of the two in the threat letters isn't blatant fraud...above and beyond the usual amount of apparent fraud on the part of Prenda et al.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2013 @ 12:03pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: I couldn't help but notice
      Let's put it this way - Duffy is in big trouble here. As in, he could not only lose everything he owns, but he could also bring the other Prenda teams into serious disrepute as a result of deliberate and wilful fraud. Because any settlements obtained by these "letters" are obtained by deception. Which is the basic legal definition of fraud.
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      - sorrykb (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 12:49pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: I couldn't help but notice
        Duffy... could also bring the other Prenda teams into serious disrepute
        
        That ship sailed a long time ago.
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      - Wally (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 3:17pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: I couldn't help but notice
        Prison and national disbarment and of course repaying all the settlements in full ought to do for a good punishment.
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- sophisticatedjanedoe (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 12:20pm
  
  Re: I couldn't help but notice
  He refers to Lessiere case in Florida that resulted in a default. "more than 150,000" means that attorney fees were added, the total (IMO absolutely non-collectable) amount was. 153,770.00. There are couple of mysteries surrounding this case, TAC looked into it.
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  - That Anonymous Coward (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 9:50pm
    
    Re: Re: I couldn't help but notice
    This is the case where I thought the defendant might be dead right?
    His entire web presence hit a dead end after some posts about medical issues.
    They served random unrelated female at an address they claimed was his, but that address never appeared in his name in any searches?
    I tried doing a search on that name to bring up the research postings again and got no hits on FCT or DTD...
    Do you have the link handy?
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    - sophisticatedjanedoe (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 10:04pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: I couldn't help but notice
      Try this thread: http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/discussions/steele-hansmeier/comment-page-15/#comment-28558
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      - That Anonymous Coward (profile), 26 Apr 2013 @ 2:06am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: I couldn't help but notice
        Ok thank you.
        Yep kept hitting dead ends looking into the person, sadly we never did find someone local to that area in FL to check obits....
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fogbugzd (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 10:35am

A lot of crack addicts will use as long as crack is available. If there is a cop standing there watching they will still be unable to resist the urge to partake.

I think the primaries in the Prenda saga are pretty much like crack addicts. They will keep filing mass copyright cases as long as they have their attorney licenses. They just can't help themselves. In fact, if they lose their law licenses I wouldn't be surprised to see them still try to file, perhaps using some washed-up lawyer or new law school graduate to do their dirty work.

Of course, I'm not sure Techdirt readers are much different. I keep swearing I am not going to read another story about Prenda. But when the next one appears I just have to peek. And then comment. Twice on the same article. I think I need an intervention.
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- crade (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 10:53am
  
  Re:
  I think the answer is more like:
  Why not. Nothing is really stopping them. So the court got mad and there were some raised voices. Woopdi do. Raised voices supposed and slapped wrists supposed to disuade crooks who are making a fortune on their crimes?
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2013 @ 5:38pm
  
  Re:
  It's because rarely, if ever, has a group of so called attorneys showed such disregard for the letter of the law. And it just keeps getting further and further from reality yet they keep on going like the energizer bunny.
  
  Unbelievable, disgusting, and on and on. How can you not continue to be in thrall to such a real life fairy tale?
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2013 @ 10:50am

yeah....
why is it no one is in jail yet?
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- That One Guy (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 7:32pm
  
  Re: yeah....
  Because no big companies or government agencies were involved. As long as it's just regular people getting hosed over by 'legal' extortion schemes like this, the laws and courts really don't care much.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2013 @ 8:10pm
    
    Re: Re: yeah....
    Your views on that are way too broad. Prenda has be practicing law illegally and they will be punished as such. Maybe if you had been keep track of the case or read this article...you would not make such a conflating statement as you just had.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - That One Guy (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 9:13pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: yeah....
      As much as I'd love to think so, the legal system seems to have a rather large blind spot when those in high positions, or those who know the loopholes are concerned, and far too often they seem to just get away with a slap on the wrist where regular people would get an orange jumpsuit.
      
      Heck, the fact that Duffy at least is still pulling crap like this suggests that he's not exactly worried too much about potential repercussions for his actions.
      
      Now to be clear, I quite enjoy watching these scum-bags get worked over by the legal system and lawyers and judges who aren't willing to just let things slide, and I would love nothing more than to read an article sometime in the future all about the lot of these parasites getting slapped with so many fines, and so much jail-time for their actions that it sets new records for such things, but until then my rather low opinion of the 'justice' system the US seems to have these days will keep me from being too optimistic about their chances to face all the punishment they so richly deserve.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2013 @ 10:52am

If "Rachel from Cardholder Services" can be public enemy #1 for the FCC, why can't "Duffy (or Steele or Hansmeier or...) from Prenda" be enemy #1 for the DoJ?
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2013 @ 10:53am
  
  Re:
  *FTC, but still point remains...
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2013 @ 11:50pm
  
  Re:
  "No, Johnny Sn--Paul Duffy, you are not my nemesis. My nemesis is New Zealand."
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S. T. Stone, 25 Apr 2013 @ 11:02am

Every time I think Prenda can�t dig its grave any deeper, it finds new ways to shovel the dirt out of that thousand-foot hole.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2013 @ 11:03am

"Our firm is famous"

Not in a good way, though.
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dennis deems (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 11:04am

Don't judges read Popehat??
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- yaga (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 11:42am
  
  Re:
  They like to have clear dockets so they can go play golf not read something that might help them do their job better.
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Thomas (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 11:45am

Are the judges..
getting a cut of the money in order to move things through smoothly and ignore any possible attorney misconduct? Judges love to clear their dockets and go off and have fun.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2013 @ 12:39pm

Will silver bullets and stakes be enough to prevent these guys coming back yet again?
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Bergman (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 1:19pm

Actually, Prenda IS pretty clearly dead...
We're now seeing Zombie Prenda in action. They're desperately seeking brains (due in large part to lacking functional brains themselves).
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gyffes, 25 Apr 2013 @ 1:28pm

Mike, Mike...
*something stupid something inane something snarky nothing coherent*

I think that about covers THAT asshole's contribution.

Now, for mine...

THANKS, I was starting to get the Lack-o'-Prenda shakes...
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ECA (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 1:36pm

WE need a debate on LLC
lets DEBATE LLC..

In my understanding..
LLC was designated for Startup and small companies.
It was to lend protection to them.
It was NOT for larger companies as they had enough money to protect themselves.

Why was this changed, and when?
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madasahatter (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 2:13pm

May Be a Big Mistake
What would happen if someone who was aware of Prenda's antics got a demand letter from this batch? I would think telling one's lawyer about the problems Prenda is having in two different federal courts would mess up the works. Also, they are suing in state court and it is very likely most of the letters are going out of state (jurisdiction). One of the defendants could challenge the court's jurisdiction - probably get it moved to the defendant's local federal district court.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2013 @ 2:41pm

Zombie won't die
"And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast"
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sorrykb (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 3:00pm

Perhaps Duffy is just trying to get some quick cash for his "flee the country" fund.
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- That Anonymous Coward (profile), 25 Apr 2013 @ 9:34pm
  
  Re:
  or maybe pay off some judgements against him... IIRC (and I coudl be wrong, by all means correct me) he owes a whole buncha money to people right now...
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2013 @ 12:07am

Insane? Maybe not. If, say, you're planning on fleeing the country it would be smart to gather up as much cash as you can as quickly as you can.
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out_of_the_blue, 26 Apr 2013 @ 4:04am

Finally!
Some good news for a change!
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RyanNerd (profile), 26 Apr 2013 @ 5:24am

Not so much as a wrist slapping
Why are we suprised? Team Prenda so far hasn't so much as had their backsides spanked. They are hiding behind the 5th right now.
So why not keep on making money the same way they have been? Just because they are remaining silent to not incriminate themselves doesn't mean they are doing anything criminal. Right???
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