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
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112 Responses
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[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############
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