The Rise Of Mass Copyright Infringement Filing Shakedown Factories In The US

from the they're-everywhere dept

For years, we'd heard the stories of the mass infringement "pre-settlement" sending law firm operations in the UK, such as (for a time) Davenport Lyons and ACS:Law -- and we wondered why nothing like that had popped up in the US. Earlier this year, of course, up popped the US Copyright Group operation (really an off-shoot of DC-law firm Dunlap, Grubb and Weaver). Since then we've seen more and more such operations set up -- with many focused on the porn industry.

Ars Technica has a list of just a few of the law firms (and the silly names they've come up with) who have jumped into this game in the US. The more we see of this, the sooner it is that (as in the UK) backlash and hopefully legal sanctions will come as well. There's little indication that any of these attempts have anything to do with actually protecting copyright or preventing infringement. Instead, they appear to be using the court system as a way to scare people into paying lots of money. Yes, it's probably true that many of the people accused did infringe, but there is little effort made to ascertain the reality of the situation. Instead, the focus is on discovering who the people are so they can be hit with a "pre-settlement" offer.

Filed Under: copyright, pre-settlements, settlements

UK Judge Not Impressed By Mass Copyright Pre-Settlement Campaigns

from the cracking-a-nut dept

We recently wrote about yet another law firm in the UK jumping on the "pre-settlement" letter setup, which is designed to misuse the legal system to send "pay us or we'll sue you for copyright infringement" letters. However, it appears that a judge in the UK is not at all impressed with such a misuse of the legal system and has made that point clear to the law firm Gallant Macmillan. While the judge, Chief Master Winegarten, notes that he doesn't fully understand the technical issues, he does point out that he's concerned about the overall process -- and has heard plenty of complaints about such pre-settlement letters. According to TorrentFreak:

"There wouldn't be this hue and cry unless you were pursuing people who were innocent," he told the applicants.

Condemning the actions as a "huge sledgehammer to crack a nut", CMW pondered, "I can't understand why in these thousands -- hundreds of thousands -- [of letters sent out] no-one has been sued."

An interesting side note, is that the judge also seemed to indicate that with the Digital Economy Act, these sorts of pre-settlement situations may no longer be reasonable, since the whole "three strikes" process may take over instead. I don't know enough about the DEA to know if it really precludes such lawsuits (or even threats of lawsuits), but it would surprise me if that were true.

Filed Under: copyright, digital economy act, judge, pre-settlements, uk
Companies: gallant macmillan

Debbie Does BitTorrent: 113 Sued For Sharing Classic Porn Movie

from the porn-porn-everywhere dept

We've pointed out recently that porn producers seem to be rapidly jumping on the mass automated "pre-settlement" bandwagon, and it seems that's only increasing. More and more porn producers are filing mass lawsuits, demanding people accused of sharing all sorts of porn pay up or go to court. One of the latest targeted is the porn "classic," Debbie Does Dallas, for which 113 John Does have now been sued. Apparently, the lawyer involved is the same one who filed a bunch of these types of lawsuits a few months ago, Evan Stone. So apparently he's joined the ranks of lawyers who are pitching this kind of "service." Over in the UK, various politicians have been condemning these kinds of lawsuits, even calling them a scam. With thousands of these lawsuits being filed in the US now, will any US politician speak up and do something about this clear abuse of copyright law?

Filed Under: infringement, lawsuits, porn, pre-settlements