Court Hits BitTorrent Users Who Failed to Appear
Written by enigmax on July 02, 2008Last week, lawyers Davenport Lyons who are currently threatening hundreds of BitTorrent users with legal action, tasted victory in Central London County Court with wins in cases against four file-sharers. Fortunately, these ‘victories’ mean little, as Davenport chose not to go after people who defend themselves, instead picking on people they knew wouldn’t even come to court.
To those in the BitTorrent community, the name Davenport Lyons will be familiar. The London-based lawyers are responsible for a barrage of threatening letters sent to hundreds of alleged file sharers. They want people who they accuse of uploading Dream Pinball 3D, Colin McRae Dirt and Call of Juarez to comply with their demands, which means accepting that the highly-suspect evidence provided by anti-piracy tracking company Logistep is actually correct, promising never to share files again and then paying several hundred pounds to Davenport Lyons to call off the legal action.
Several individuals accused by Davenport in the Dream Pinball 3D case have access to some formidable resources and are actually relishing the opportunity of having their day in court. However, as we recently reported, Davenport Lyons like to carefully pick their prey - they simply cannot afford to lose a case due to faulty evidence. TorrentFreak is in contact with many people who are accused by Davenport of uploading, and it’s becoming apparent that people who dig in their heels - who refuse to be intimidated and refuse to be bullied - are mysteriously left alone and not taken to court.
But before we get carried away, here’s some sobering news. Last Friday, seemingly against all the odds and proving our previous articles completely wrong, Davenport Lyons achieved court victories against four file-sharers it accused of unauthorized distribution of Topware’s Dream Pinball 3D.
David Gore, a partner at Davenport Lyons said: “Copyright owners spend millions of pounds developing copyright works for sale to the public for their enjoyment and yet many think it is acceptable to obtain the work illegally and for free by procuring a copy on a peer-to-peer network.”
The four were hit with fines of £750 each - to be paid within a week - along with £2000 costs. Ouch. Surely these historic victories would now open the flood gates to enable the lawyers and anti-pirates to absolutely hammer the hundreds of people who also stand accused?
Well, not quite, no. Not even close.
The victories claimed by Davenport Lyons at Central London County Court on behalf of publisher Topware were all achieved by way of so-called ‘default judgment’. In basic terms, this means that as the individuals accused didn’t bother to turn up at court or even answer court documents, the court had no alternative than to hand victory to Davenport Lyons and Topware.
The remaining several hundred people accused of file-sharing by Davenport Lyons will be heartened to know that the company only has the confidence to go after people it knows will not turn up at court, assuring them of victory.
Loading up its metaphorical gun and getting ready to fire more legal bullets into a small barrel of defenseless fish, Davenport says it has more of these cases lined up to ‘win’ later on this week, while everyone else stands around yawning wondering when they’ll pick on someone who will actually fight back.
If you are one of the four who lost their case last Friday or have been served with court documents to appear in the future, please get in touch via the contact page, we want to speak with you.
Previously: Australian Drug Mafia to Sell Pirated DVDs?
Next: ‘Heroes’ Producer Recognizes Benefits of BitTorrent
37 Responses
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I wonder how many other people will get sued before the courts catch on to the scam…
There just in it to scare people and make easy money
peer guardian rules.
fuck em all
The courts don’t care since they(the court) also profits off of these frivolous cases and anything that the court can profit off of is good to them. We need a law that states if you bring a lawsuit against someone and lose then you are automatically 100% responsible for their court costs. This would not only stop frivolous lawsuits in general but just maybe after these pathetic firms that defend “copywrong” law lose enough cases they will give up because the cost is to great for them in the end.
I have suddenly strongly gotten into the mood to upload Dream Pinball 3D PC and console versions in various ways of transfering files with the message “Don’t buy from these people”.
A job well done!
In all honesty… I’m a little annoied at these fours.
Everyone who does anything illegal in the eyes of the law should face it, not stick there head in the stand.
So ok they might of had good reasons, but if you just don’t show up then whats the point?
im gonna upload that shitty game now :)
I guess that’s what happends to people who rely n Torrent Freak for legal advice…
Way to go…
Read this in the paper the earlier. Seen 2 letter but no action yet, it will be funny when someone fights back and watches them disappear.
What cowards.. there just scared of the rich kid with the rich parents with the rich lawyer.. that will blast them a new asshole.
If they loose a case, there done for.
Now this seems very intresting as so far the only 2 news reports on this story are from either a internet site, or a free give away people that people get on the tube.
I’ve checked a couple of sites such as the register, and the times newspaper and so far found nothing. Now if the Assclowns have managed to get these wins in the courts, how come there are only 2 refernces that can be found at the moment, and more to the point why are they not making a big song and dance about it. To people like the times newspaper and also the BBC, are the trying to hide the fact they have managed to scam the legal system in the uk.
Also I can’t wait till they take someone to court who will turn up, and with them bring a long prove that they are innocent and can tear shreads out of the fake and incorrect data provided by a company. That has already been banned from operating in there own home country and other european countries. Plus add to this evidence from the french courts that prove these Ass bandits are just running a scam, for example the french solicitor who was banned for sending out the same type letters that they are.
Plus logistep will not allow there software to be audited by independent experts for accuracy because they know all it does is throw out a load of crap, and that a person can prove this is true because they have proof they could have not downloaded this or any games the company is claiming.
This actually sounds like a clever scam. Maybe some form of Mafia group will pick up on this in the near future - it seems very profitable.
The sheer fact they will not allow other partys to examine there evidence is more then enough reason to completely drop the case and have them banned.
There is absolutely no way you can accuse someone with secret evidence.
I would walk into that court room, ask them to allow there evidence to be examined, they will say no, I would look at the judge and just smile.
LOL, seems lately Lawyers are without doubt the BOTTOM FEEDERS of the world. Like Pond Scum!
JT
WFT… Why didnt u 4 chase the fukkers ?
If ya good enuff to use torrent it’s not that hard to google. You’d have had a wealth of information on how to tackle this rather than a No-Show.
This is exactly what the fukkers wanted a UK WIN. You have now given it to them…
U F00Lz…
the four people are probably d.p jockey,s,simple they dont have to pay,d.p puts a tick as paid,so immoral? logistep and the rest are so underhanded it,s untrue,if anyone get,s a letter from the court,s turn up and stand your ground,tell the court that there client put the game on p2p,it,s no different to what there doing to youask for proof that logistep have permission to monitor ip ads,the goverment are only recently allowed to under the terror laws,wow logistep a law to themselves
Does it make a difference if it turns out those 4 DID download that game and don’t want to risk giving those @$$ holes an actual win?
Mabye there names were Cannon Laserjet 4400, or Copier Machine Office #12…
Mabye they sued office machines.. afterall.. they do P2P all the timez… lolz
Hah.. that copier machine didnt show up.. WIN!!
I hope BitTorrent users get death sentence.
What next?
Riaa sues dog for dancing for a song played over radio….
http://www.hack5.blogspot.com
.
What’s unclear is whether they will pursue people who download, or those who upload (seeders).
In the past messages on this from RIAA and the UK equivalent (cant remember their name) have only ever said they will target those who upload and share, not leechers. The articles I’ve read today chop and change between saying they are targeting ‘uploaders’, then saying ‘downloaders’, then saying ’sharing’.
What were these four fined for? Uploading/Seeding or downloading? Who do Davenport represent, just Codemasters and this Pinball game maker?
It would cost well over £15,000 to defend one of these cases. I doubt the people they are suing has the resources to put up a fight.
It really doesnt matter who there going after, uploaders and downloaders fall into the same catagory. USERS. This is just the way bittorrent works, you cant really be one or the other, if your not uploading anything, trackers ignore you.
Everything is basicly linked to something else in bittorrent, which is why it is decentralized. Which is why it is so hard to destroy.
You can come up with names for different types of users but in the end there all just users or part of the swarm. Theres no HEAD to the swarm that you can cut off.. if there was the MAFIAA would have sliced it years ago.
So if your thinking about trying to dodge a bullet by not doing a certain thing, your out of luck. Your either in or your out, choose one.
I’m done talking on this useless site… Where your opinions are monitored for words that will trigger an alarm bell…
Paranoid???
So they’ve got default judgments against 4 people out of god knows how many hundreds they threatend to take to court.
Is it not lightly that these are just people who have moved or for who the address details are simply wrong and therefore never knew they where being taken to court so did not attend!
I suspect they’ll not be collecting much of the “fines” or costs
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