1. Sloppy detective work to look for people torrenting porn
2. Fish for quick settlements from these people
Several of the accused have decided to fight back. In doing so, there have been revelations that Prenda has many problems.
1. It's not clear that Prenda has the right to sue on behalf of the copyright holders.The holding company it claims to represent seems to be founded on forged documents, and temps acting as corporate officers.
2. Prenda's not willing pay for a bond for one case, and wants to terminate many cases and absolve itself of any sort of expense associated with them. The judges involved aren't going to set Prenda walk away so easily.
It's a pretty damned complex story at this point. Basically there was this porn trolling outfit who would buy low budget porno and go hunting for infringers. Mostly, they would get people to settle for $X,000, but when people fought back, things got weird.
When defense lawyers investigated the people behind this, we started seeing crazy allegations about how the forensic evidence was handled by one of the guy's brothers. And how there were a bunch of corporations that owned each other, but which all seemed to be run by the same small group of people. And headquartered, for the most part, in a tax haven with weird laws relating to trusts. I'm not sure how many places allow trusts for the benefit of the children of a man who has no children, for example. There were also allegations that certain defendants settled by agreeing to have a lawyer chosen by the plaintiff lose their case for them. And there were serious questions about the copyright transfers, not to mention a man who claims to have had his identity stolen so that he could be listed as the owner of one of the shell companies.
All this crazy has prompted several judges to look into it. It has also prompted the porn trolls to start pleading the 5th. And dismissing cases, including one where they had already won a default judgment. In this particular case, however, it was too late for them to dismiss it without the judge's approval. This judge wants some answers first.
I have no idea what their answer will be, but with things as crazy as they are, it's bound to be interesting.
If April 26 is "World Intellectual Property Day," I declare April 27 to be "World Imaginary Property Infringement Day." A Merry WIPID to all, and may you all enjoy a bountiful harvest.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 25.8 ms ] thread1. Sloppy detective work to look for people torrenting porn
2. Fish for quick settlements from these people
Several of the accused have decided to fight back. In doing so, there have been revelations that Prenda has many problems.
1. It's not clear that Prenda has the right to sue on behalf of the copyright holders.The holding company it claims to represent seems to be founded on forged documents, and temps acting as corporate officers.
2. Prenda's not willing pay for a bond for one case, and wants to terminate many cases and absolve itself of any sort of expense associated with them. The judges involved aren't going to set Prenda walk away so easily.
Edit: Thought this was using markdown, derp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenda_Law
When defense lawyers investigated the people behind this, we started seeing crazy allegations about how the forensic evidence was handled by one of the guy's brothers. And how there were a bunch of corporations that owned each other, but which all seemed to be run by the same small group of people. And headquartered, for the most part, in a tax haven with weird laws relating to trusts. I'm not sure how many places allow trusts for the benefit of the children of a man who has no children, for example. There were also allegations that certain defendants settled by agreeing to have a lawyer chosen by the plaintiff lose their case for them. And there were serious questions about the copyright transfers, not to mention a man who claims to have had his identity stolen so that he could be listed as the owner of one of the shell companies.
All this crazy has prompted several judges to look into it. It has also prompted the porn trolls to start pleading the 5th. And dismissing cases, including one where they had already won a default judgment. In this particular case, however, it was too late for them to dismiss it without the judge's approval. This judge wants some answers first.
I have no idea what their answer will be, but with things as crazy as they are, it's bound to be interesting.
Sooooo all of HN, then?