Thursday Next Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 (edited) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12253746 A lot of people have accused ACS Law of basically trying to bully pirates for cash without any intention of going through court proceedings. The ACS gambit is to send you a letter, tell you that they're going to sue you on behalf of the copyright holders agents, and try to sting you for ~£500. Well, 26 people have gone to to court with them and now they are dropping all the cases. Or at least attempting to. The Judge in one of those brilliant moments of making a lawyer squirm because he can is making it very difficult for ACS / Mediacat (the Copyright holders agent in these cases) to back out of what they presumably believe to be a losing battle. Judge Birss: "I want to tell you that I am not happy. I am getting the impression with every twist and turn since I started looking at these cases that there is a desire to avoid any judicial scrutiny," I don't really agree with the lawyer acting for ACS getting death threats and such, that's going OTT, but the database leak could cost the firm a LOT of money, which would be delicious justice. Edited January 25, 2011 by Thursday Next 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Here's the part that lets you know why this is really happening: "The court heard that copyright owners receive a 30% share of any recouped revenue while ACS: Law takes a 65% share." Lawyers are great at making money for themselves. Nobody really cares about actually stopping pirates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Yup. I just love that they aren't being allowed to wriggle out of it now that they have court expenses looming and (presumably) less than brilliant chances of winning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Are these the cases that were based on bittorrent IP addresses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Yup. More details here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12275913 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 so does this have any implications for US versions of the lawsuits? I know that precedent doesn't exactly work across the pond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Well they might decide it's not worth it and drop suits over here too, or it could reveal evidence/documentation that would be useful in suits over here, but you're right that it's unlikely that any specific ruling in the UK would have a direct effect on suits here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 So what about people who have already paid the letters. Do they have a recourse to recoup the money or is that seen as an admission of guilt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 It's probably an out of court settlement, so the people who paid don't have any recourse. It's common in lawsuits to send what's called a "demand letter", which is basically "this is what I want, if you don't do this then I'm suing you." The article isn't horribly specific, but it sounds like that's what these letters were. So paying it isn't an admission of guilt necessarily, but it's still a binding agreement. Unless the law firm's conduct was so egregious as to invalidate the agreement (fraud, duress, etc), in which case the people who paid might have some recourse, but I don't have enough information to say if that's the case or not. *Edit* - That's also all assuming that settlements work the same way in the UK as they do here. I really have no idea if that's the case or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 It's probably an out of court settlement, so the people who paid don't have any recourse. It's common in lawsuits to send what's called a "demand letter", which is basically "this is what I want, if you don't do this then I'm suing you." The article isn't horribly specific, but it sounds like that's what these letters were. So paying it isn't an admission of guilt necessarily, but it's still a binding agreement. Unless the law firm's conduct was so egregious as to invalidate the agreement (fraud, duress, etc), in which case the people who paid might have some recourse, but I don't have enough information to say if that's the case or not. *Edit* - That's also all assuming that settlements work the same way in the UK as they do here. I really have no idea if that's the case or not. I demand you pay me $150 in damages because your post made me flashback to 1L and it was terrible. Payment will discharge all debts owed by you to me. IIRC, UK law allows for more judicial review of these sorts of claims than U.S. law does; US law favors settlements more than most other countries' laws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 http://torrentfreak.com/acslaw-and-mediacat-completely-shut-down-both-their-businesses-110204/ Nevermind drop the case, they closed their entire business down rather than face court Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Wow. All that to minimize their self-destruction. Up next... they leave the country for new lives abroad. And no, not welcomed in America. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 And no, not welcomed in America. You sure on that one? http://torrentfreak.com/100000-p2p-users-sued-in-us-mass-lawsuits-110130/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 And no, not welcomed in America. You sure on that one? http://torrentfreak.com/100000-p2p-users-sued-in-us-mass-lawsuits-110130/ Well, no welcome from me besides, us Americans are lawsuit crazy. Hopefully something similar happens in the States... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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