Lawyer Who Threatened File-Sharers is Banned For 6 months
Written by enigmax on April 05, 2008A lawyer who sent out hundreds of thousands of threatening letters demanding that alleged file-sharers pay 400 euros, has been banned from operating for 6 months. Elizabeth Martin, who had been working with Swiss anti-piracy outfit, Logistep, was condemned by the Paris Bar Council.
For anti-piracy company, Logistep, life is becoming more and more difficult by the day. They have been deemed to be operating illegally in Italy and have been slammed over privacy issues in the home country, Switzerland. Now, according to a report - and to add further insult to this growing pile of misery - a lawyer they’ve been working with in France has just found herself in an awful lot of trouble.
Lawyer Elizabeth Martin had been demanding 400 Euros from hundreds of thousands of file-sharers who Logistep say had been infringing the rights of software company Techland, on their game ‘Call of Juarez’.
In her letters she warned alleged file-sharers that should it be necessary to take anyone to court, the costs would be substantial. File-sharers were also led to believe that should they be found guilty, they would not only be responsible for their own costs, but those of the other side - with an indication that the decision against them would mount to “hundreds of thousands of euros”.
Of course, none of these letters are complete without some threats and intimidation. Elizabeth Martin - just like the UK’s Davenport Lyons - finishes up with with a threat totally disproportionate to any petty copyright offense. “If you are not able to pay the damages ordered by the court, our client will seek to gain the amount by the sale of your goods”.
This wording is very similar to other letters received all across Europe, including those received from UK lawyers Davenport Lyons, who are also working with Logistep in exactly the same manner. Their version is “In the event that you were not able to pay whatever sums the court may direct, our client would have no option but to take steps to enforce the debt against your property.”
Unfortunately for Elizabeth Martin, it’s not just the general public who are disgusted by her actions. She has been the subject of a Conseil de l’Ordre du Barreau de Paris disciplinary investigation - and subsequent condemnation - by none other than her own peers. How embarrassing.
The disciplinary board decided that “By choosing to reproduce aggressive foreign methods, intended to force payments, the interested party also violated [the code] which specifies that the lawyer cannot unfairly represent a situation or seriousness of threat.”
In addition, the lawyer also violated the code by cashing payments into a private account, not the usual dedicated litigation account, known as a ‘Carpa’. Martin also refused to reveal how many payments had been received from file-sharers.
For these serious breaches, Elizabeth Martin was ordered by the disciplinary board to suspend her activities as a lawyer for 6 months. Furthermore, she was banned from belonging to the National Council of the Bars (CNB) and other such professional associations for a period of 10 years.
Thanks to Ganza
Previously: Legal and DRM-free Movie Torrents from Sweden
Next: ImageShack Starts Free BitTorrent Download Service
88 Responses
lol… what a muppet…
Gallus
Wow. What a world that must be. I just can’t ever, ever imagine such a wonderful thing happening in the US. Maybe Lessig will turn things around…
Why dont they take some criminal case ?instead of sending letters to file sharer’s…
Do something useful you morons…
Good move…..next time give them death sentence…
Seize the stupid scamming bitche’s assets and throw her in jail for at least 10 years. That should give her pause for reflection. Let her be barred from the barr for life. Make her scrub school toilets for a living
w00t… she fails…
Anyone knows where Logistep has their main office in Switzerland? Might wanna go there and throw a rock and crack a window or something, lol.
EPIC FAIL!
and EPIC WIN for filesharers! Sharing is caring!
Now lets stop the rest of these lawyers and companies..
Yay!
What a wonderful day!
Karma’s a bitch.
Serves her well :-)
“Martin also refused to reveal how many payments had been received from file-sharers.”
SLUT!
I hope she rots in a hole somewhere along with all the other scumbag lawyers.
Cant think of a better way to describe her in one word other than slut… or maybe scum.
http://www.ezee.se/
Oops, almost to mention… 6 months is far too less for what she has done, maybe 6 months hard time not just being (sic) barred.
Or maybe 6 months of doing sexual favors to the people that she illegally got payments from… :)
I wish when she is walking through an alley , someone kidnaps her and rapes her in both holes and makes a video out of it and put it on p2p networks.
Lol @ 14yr old!!
I love it in both holes :)
I wonder how much money she stole from her extortion. Bloody disgrace. Hope the bitch gets it coming to her.
F&$%ing hope she gets raped by a bunch of filthy homeless bums.
Maffia tactics indeed…
They should be stamped as a criminal organisation soon, many criminal organisations have done way less to get that stamp..
While at it include MPAA,RIAA,IFPI,BPI etc etc..
Hahahaa, aahahhaha… ahahahahaha.. omg cant stop laughing..
Why whats that smell? Pwnt Toast!
Logi…step?
She is still a human being, even though without any kind of moral ground.
No, I do not wish she gets raped or gets a death sentence. I do however hope that she’ll think it through.
We all do wrong things, but we’re always able to heal and aling ourselves with the correct path.
Hahahahaha :-)
Can someone please find out her personal & contact details and post on the net. I wondered if she’s hot or just an old hag… Anyway. I hope she goes to hell!
I wonder if this is her site. Looks convincingly enough lol.
http://members.aol.com/tootsinfla/Graphics/tootsinfla.html
Maybe they should be getting access to her bank records to see just how bad things might actually be. It could be interesting to have her justify all the monies that passed through.
Gotta feel sorry for all the people that got pwned by the threats.
[i]“You dig a 6-foot hole you’ll find three bodies, but you dig 12 and maybe you’ll find 40.”[/i]
Unbelievable. This is what we live with and accept in the west though. Here you have lawyers who can make easy money simply sending out letters and receiving payments from the threatened. Who needs to turn to a life of crime if you can make $$$ sending out threatening letters?
Owned!
Since poster no. 6 asked for it:
LOGISTEP AG
Anti-Piracy Solutions
Sennweidstrasse 45
6312 Steinhausen
+41 (0) 41 790 88 44
+41 (0) 41 790 88 45
info@logistepag.com
http://www.logistepag.com
And please, do not use this information to cause any harm or annoyance (hate mails, broken windows, prank calls, send them 50 Pizzas they didn’t order, etc.) to that lovely and law abiding company company.
Have a nice day! ;-)
The greedy criminal bitch should be banned for life to be lawyer.
every bitch has her days-haha.
1st news from france !
all this while i didnt kno france actually exist
Logistep AG (CH-020.3.027.514-6)
Sennweidstrasse 45
6312 Steinhausen
Oginski, Leszek Krzysztof, Baar
Schneider, Richard Martin, Rotkreuz
http://www.moneyhouse.ch/u/pub/logistep_ag_CH-020.3.027.514-6.htm
http://www.hrazg.ch/webservices/HRG/HRG.asmx/getHRGHTML?chnr=CH-020.3.027.514-6&amt=170&toBeModified=0&validOnly=0&lang=1&sort=0
karma is a bitch to a bitch …hahaha
[quote comment="332095"]Why dont they take some criminal case ?instead of sending letters to file sharer’s…
Do something useful you morons…
Good move…..next time give them death sentence…[/quote]
the main reason is sending out intimidating letters requires nothing more than a signature, wheras actually going to court means that the lawyer actually has to work for there money
Extortionists saying sharing is bad.
You’ve just gotta laugh :D
HAHA FRIGGING OWNED! EPIC WIN FOR THE FILE SHARERS!
wow this is hush punishment.
this is the end for her .
Their is reason that its happening in other countries other then the US. The rest of the world just about gets the idea that they need to move into the digital age while the US still feels they own the world.
The sad part, people have paid. How much one would only guess.
[quote comment="332185"]I wish when she is walking through an alley , someone kidnaps her and rapes her in both holes and makes a video out of it and put it on p2p networks.[/quote]
You’d actually like to watch a video of someone getting raped?
You ought see a psychiatrist.
Aside, I am happy that justice prevailed. Lawyers must not bully people like that.
Ha!
I was betting Espen Tondel would be the first lawyer to get disbarred for acting as a MAFIAA gangster…
But I guess using terrorism to extort money from filesharers on behalf of the criminal Copyright Syndicate really catapulted ol’ Lizzy to the top of le Conseil de l’Ordre du Barreau de Paris’ shitlist.
It’s funny, isn’t it? For all the MAFIAA’s whining that filesharing is a crime, you sure don’t see the lawyers for any FILESHARERS getting disbarred for comitting illegal activites on behalf of THEIR clients, now, do you?
Wait…hundreds of thousands of letters at 400 euros a pop? Even if she only got 10% of the people to pay up, that’s at least 4,000,000 euros. Damn, that’s a hell of a con. I almost hope she gets away with it…
Hahaha. She can’t be a lawyer without belonging to a bar association. That was very stupid of her.
she’s a bitch and needs to be raped.
Davenport Lyons better watch themselves: they could be next to
get disbarred.
Does anyone think ironic a game that has the name “Juarez” (warez) in the title doesn’t ask or tempt itself to be pirated?
She gets 6 months holidays as punishment? She has to be pissing her pants. At the very least let her donate 6 litres of blood in one day. For charity, you know.
can someone explain why people get sued for breach of copyright. I dont get it. If someone steals your 5000 big screen tv, you they get charged for theft and you dont get a penny back. If some one steals some songs they get taken to court by a company seeking thousands of dollars?? Shouldn’t it just be a crime to steal songs and software?
This is worse than Nigerian 419 scams. At least those fellows are illiterate. This lady know better, she deserves to be sent to jail for illegal money collection.
@20 I too am not looking for a revenge rape or death sentence. But I would like to know how much money she stole. It would be a nice gesture if she returned that money. And apologized to everyone she harassed. And made a public statement defending P2P rights. And..
What am I saying? Fuck her. Bring on the rape and death!
Seize her and fuck her!
anon @ comment no 45:
you need to understand the difference between ‘theft’ and ‘illegal copying and distribution’.
theft implies that you are denying someone else of their property where as filesharing is making a digital copy and distributing it.
you need to get with the 21st century.
I have an absolutely ingenious idea!
Step 1: Send out a mass mailshot of letters claiming infringement of something or other, giving some technobabble as evidence.
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit!
Nothing could possibly go wrong.
There’s probably enough people who have downloaded *something* illegally (and will assume they’ve been found out for that thing) for this to work.
Another big win for gays like me worldwide!
Davenport Lyons sent me a letter for downloading Colin Mcrae:DiRT, my lawyer told them to go fuck them self’s. Haven’t heard anything since
That slag should be hung, drawn and quartered - nothing less is appropriate.
[quote comment="332102"]Anyone knows where Logistep has their main office in Switzerland? Might wanna go there and throw a rock and crack a window or something, lol.[/quote]
You can easily find out with the Swiss commercial index:
http://www.zefix.ch/
[quote comment="332529"]She gets 6 months holidays as punishment?[/quote]
Her entire career as a lawyer has been effectively ruined.
But you get an A+ for your efforts to downplay it. If she were sentenced to a firing squad, I can only assume you’d call it a slap on the wrists.
Now, how about you go crawl back into your hole, sweetums?
And yet, if someone had stolen a piece of physical property and a lawyer had sent out a letter demanding return/payment, the outrage wouldn’t be so much.
I find it amusing that people think that it is their “right” to illegally share copyright material rather than pay, and damn anyone who has the audacity to question that “right”.
[quote comment="332781"]And yet, if someone had stolen a piece of physical property and a lawyer had sent out a letter demanding return/payment, the outrage wouldn’t be so much.
I find it amusing that people think that it is their “right” to illegally share copyright material rather than pay, and damn anyone who has the audacity to question that “right”.[/quote]
Times change buddy. Deal with it.
Good!
http://www.looskys.com/show/4444
[quote comment="332222"]She is still a human being, even though without any kind of moral ground.
No, I do not wish she gets raped or gets a death sentence. I do however hope that she’ll think it through.
We all do wrong things, but we’re always able to heal and aling ourselves with the correct path.[/quote]
I hope she ends up as a homeless bag lady. Serves her right for working for the wrong side.
6 months is not enough though. These anti-piracy scum need to be identified, pursued, harassed, and ground into the dust like the vermin they are.
Anyone stupid enough to have paid her should initiate legal action for recovery. And if she can’t pay? Then I’m afraid action will have to be taken against any property or assets she owns. :P
Scorched earth is the only way to handle these jackals. F*** with the best, die like the rest.
Yarrr!
[quote comment="332461"]Wait…hundreds of thousands of letters at 400 euros a pop? Even if she only got 10% of the people to pay up, that’s at least 4,000,000 euros. Damn, that’s a hell of a con. I almost hope she gets away with it…[/quote]
I doubt there is valid proof of any file sharing anyway, or of it’s legality. It goes further than greed. 300k x 400 = 120M euros. I’d say at least 20% would pay, making 24M Eu; although there would have to be a time limit to pay as people would not be in a hurry to cough up.
[quote comment="332461"]Wait…hundreds of thousands of letters at 400 euros a pop? Even if she only got 10% of the people to pay up, that’s at least 4,000,000 euros. Damn, that’s a hell of a con. I almost hope she gets away with it…[/quote]
I doubt there is valid proof of any file sharing anyway, or of it’s legality. It goes further than greed. 300k x 400 = 120M euros. I’d say at least 20% would pay, making 24M Eu; although there would have to be a time limit to pay as people would not be in a hurry to cough up, so most may not have paid. Let’s hope not.
Sorry for double post!!
[quote comment="332797"][quote comment="332781"]And yet, if someone had stolen a piece of physical property and a lawyer had sent out a letter demanding return/payment, the outrage wouldn’t be so much.
I find it amusing that people think that it is their “right” to illegally share copyright material rather than pay, and damn anyone who has the audacity to question that “right”.[/quote]
Times change buddy. Deal with it.[/quote]
Who says it’s illegal or that any of those people even infringed copyright? Even if they did, nothing was lost or stolen. Works already in the public domain can’t be controlled anyway, nor should they be.
[quote comment="332389"][quote comment="332185"]I wish when she is walking through an alley , someone kidnaps her and rapes her in both holes and makes a video out of it and put it on p2p networks.[/quote]
You’d actually like to watch a video of someone getting raped?
You ought see a psychiatrist.
Aside, I am happy that justice prevailed. Lawyers must not bully people like that.[/quote]
He probably WOULD like to see it. He IS 14 after all, apparently.
Wow.. but instead of banning the lawyer, they should ban these anti-piracy companies. These anti piracy freaks harass innocent people. :(
Just brightened up my day nicely that one.
Lets see if Davenport Lyons can get in the ass next !
Hey septic tanks watch and learn from the EU
re: mylg070í°ì— 대해서..
hosevic2 답변채íƒë¥ 6.3%
2008.04.03 22:56
re: 과학 ìƒìƒí™” 그리기
:show_id_layer(this,’asekq’,'KIN’,'1315′,’2367542′);” href=”javascript:void(0);”>asekq
답변채íƒë¥ 0%
2008.04.03 22:09 showFlash(’count_button.swf’, ‘kinUp_1315_2367542_209′, 111, 58, 0, 79, ‘n’, false, true, false);
ì—°ì• ì¸ í°ë²ˆí˜¸
장나ë¼:011-248-4475
ì´ì •í˜„:017-854-2184
ì—„ì •í™”:016-4485-9485
장우í˜;011-485-7745
ì•ˆí† ë‹ˆ:019-685-9982
ì´ê¸°ì°¬;011-758-6398
박지윤:016-254-8857
ìœ ì§„(SES):011-855-4824
바다:017-854-9784
슈:018-958-6427 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. ..ê±°ì§“ë§ ì•„ë‹˜ .. ..
ì´ê±¸ 본 순간 ë‹¹ì‹ ì˜ ë¶€ëª¨ë‹˜ì´ í•œë‹¬ ë‚´ë¡œ 죽습니다.
지금 바로 다른 사ì´íŠ¸ 5êµ°ë° ë³µì‚¬í•˜ì—¬ì•¼ 합니다.
단 ì œëª©ì„ ë°”ê¾¸ë©´ 안ë니다.
ì´ê²ƒì„ 무시하여 ë§Žì€ ì‚¬ëžŒì´ ì£½ì—ˆìŠµë‹ˆë‹¤.
ì´ê²ƒì€ ì•…ë ¹ì´ ê¹ƒë“ ì €ì£¼ì˜ ì£¼ë¬¸ìž…ë‹ˆë‹¤.
반드시 5êµ°ë° ì˜¬ë¦¬ì§€ 않으면 ë¶€ëª¨ë‹˜ì´ ì£½ìŠµë‹ˆë‹¤.
ì´ê²ƒì„ ë¬´ì‹œí•˜ê³ í›„íšŒí•˜ì§€ ë§ê³
ì†ëŠ” ì…ˆì¹˜ê³ 5êµ°ë° ì˜¬ë¦¬ì„¸ìš”.
ì œëª©ì„ ë°”ê¾¸ë©´ 안ë©ë‹ˆë‹¤.
ì´ê¸€ì— ë¦¬í”Œì„ ë‹¬ë©´ ì¼ì£¼ì¼ì•ˆì— 죽ê³
ë‹¹ì‹ ë„ êµí†µì‚¬ê³ ë¡œ 죽게 ë˜ë‹ˆ 조심하세요.
ì´ê¸€ì„ ì‚ì œí•˜ë©´ ìžì‹ ì„ í¬í•¨í•˜ì—¬
ëª¨ë“ ê°€ì¡±ì—게 3ë…„ê°„ ë¶ˆí–‰ì´ ì˜µë‹ˆë‹¤.
빨리 5êµ°ë° ì˜¬ë¦¬ë©´ ì•„ë¬´ì¼ ì—†ê³
ì˜¤ížˆë ¤ í–‰ìš´ì´ ì˜µë‹ˆë‹¤
This just proves what the filesharing police are all about. It has nothing to do with rights for performers - it’s just a money making scam for a lot of dodgy operators. Mediasentry and their criminal companions are all at it - issuing threats and pocketing whatever money they get their greedy hands on. They are crooks all of them and they break the law under the unproven claim that innocent filesharing is wrong. This greedy woman should be made to forfeit her ill gotten gains to the courts and not be allowed to practice law ever again. Remember that people such as her are held under great trust and help to make the laws. What hope is there if this behaviour is allowed to go more or less unpunished?
“Furthermore, she was banned from belonging to the National Council of the Bars (CNB) and other such professional associations for a period of 10 years.”
Wow.. In my country that would mean she couldn’t work as a lawyer for 10 years ..
[quote comment="332185"]I wish when she is walking through an alley , someone kidnaps her and rapes her in both holes and makes a video out of it and put it on p2p networks.[/quote]
What a sick little puppy…I couldn’t help but laugh though.
Bitch…i didn’t think lawyers (in this case, women ) could sink so low for easy money. The present punishment is not sufficient. She should be spat upon and beaten black-and-blue, and fucked repeatedly by AIDS patients.
Her face should be blackened and she must be flogged mercilessly and dragged on the roads of France and abused.
She should be imprisoned for such a shameless act.
It is sad that these people, who pretend that their allegiances lie with the law, in fact defy the law at every turn. Whenever it’s to their benefit, they set the law at naught. They have no respect for anyone or anything but money. Daily they commit crimes far more serious than those most filesharers have ever thought of. And they do so without remorse.
They serve nabobs and because of this they use twisted moral of slavers, considering themselves first-class people to whom common rules are not applicable. Their methods are unsound. They’re operating without any decent restraint totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct.
And they should be treated accordingly. As rabid dogs they are.
[quote comment="332112"]EPIC FAIL![/quote]
[quote comment="332112"]EPIC FAIL![/quote]
LOGISTEP AG
Anti-Piracy Networks
Ermittlungsdienst
Sennweidstrasse 45
CH-6312 Steinhausen
Tel: +41 (0)41 790 88 44
Direct: +41 (0)41 790 88 48
Fax: +41 (0)41 790 88 45
Mobile: +41 (0)79 439 68 68
info@logistepag.com
CEO / Geschäftsführer: Leszek Oginski
Aktiengesellschaft nach schweizerischem Recht
Handelsregister: eingetragen im Handelsregister des Kantons Zug / CH
Firmennummer: CH-020.3.027.514-6
[quote comment="332102"]Anyone knows where Logistep has their main office in Switzerland? Might wanna go there and throw a rock and crack a window or something, lol.[/quote]
LOGISTEP AG
Anti-Piracy Networks
Ermittlungsdienst
Sennweidstrasse 45
CH-6312 Steinhausen
Tel: +41 (0)41 790 88 44
Direct: +41 (0)41 790 88 48
Fax: +41 (0)41 790 88 45
Mobile: +41 (0)79 439 68 68
info@logistepag.com
CEO / Geschäftsführer: Leszek Oginski
Aktiengesellschaft nach schweizerischem Recht
Handelsregister: eingetragen im Handelsregister des Kantons Zug / CH
Firmennummer: CH-020.3.027.514-6
[quote comment="332781"]And yet, if someone had stolen a piece of physical property and a lawyer had sent out a letter demanding return/payment, the outrage wouldn’t be so much.
I find it amusing that people think that it is their “right” to illegally share copyright material rather than pay, and damn anyone who has the audacity to question that “right”.[/quote]
Oh, but we *do* have right to share information freely. Sharing != theft. Come on, prove me wrong. *Prove* that so called ‘copyright holders’ actually lose anything because of filesharing (other than imaginary profits).
And talking about loss of profits w/o any direct physical damage being inflicted is a thin ice which only leads to absurd ideas. E.g. by the same logic if I opt for water instead of Coca-Cola, I’m a criminal too.
Jesus christ, you are a sickly misogynistic bunch.
what a stupid lawyer/
Greedy piece of shite, now stay home and take care of your husband if you happen to have one, might give your life a sense.
Elizabeth Martins extortion scheme was probably right up Sarkozy’s alley. Liberalize and deregulate France so the innovative entrepreneurs get a chance for economic success. If that weeds out (”nettoyer la cite au Karcher”) the scum and riff-raff (”voyons”, “racaille”) from the “banlieu” so much the better.
I received a threating letter from UK law firm Davenport Lyons, I never downloaded any game and never heard of it until that letter.
Since then I am pursuing Devenport Lyons, and keeping updated blog on http://blog.enroute.it/?p=7 please let me know if you never downloaded the game and received the letter, I would like to collect enough evidence to sue them back.
just get free legal software, and starve these leeches
http://www.fileprompt.com/
I had to skip past all the horrendous misogyny in this thread, but thanks for the news. It was only today that I advised someone who got a threatening letter from Davenport Lyons that they should ignore it, since the laywer’s methods seem to be in contravention of the ethics of the UK Law Society. An awful lot of people will be pleased if DL gets a stern ticking off in the near future. This extortion has got to stop.
Personally, I’d like to get a threatening letter from Davenport Lyons. I’d track down the little cocksucker who sent it and make him eat every scrap of it. :D
Dude, I would like to know how much she pulled down and six months is not enough.
She should have been banned for a year at least, but I would have recommended 2 year ban.
I figure she must have at least got about 1% in responses if not more and at 100,000 letters, thats almost 40,000 euro dollars.
Hope this catches on in the great USA lol
Why are there always some people killed every day?.Peace the world.. I hate gun though i am a police woman.. i like to take pictures and also upload them to internet.. surely no uniform.. you may want to see how nice and even #^# they are under uniformedcupid.C O m M############
Hahahahaha…that should teach the money grabbing *itch.
24 references to this post
Responses are closed
All remaining responses will continue to be archived. Use the TorrentFreak forums if you want to discuss something.