It would be the first attempt at extracting cash settlements from alleged file-sharers since the ACS:Law fiasco and as such the High Court placed restrictions on how the company could deal with alleged infringers.

Many of those restrictions relate to the initial letter sent by Golden Eye (GEIL) to Internet account holders. The letter itself had to be approved by the High Court and among other things could not ask individuals for a set amount of money (a figure of £700 was originally attempted by GEIL) until infringement by the individual (and to what degree) had been established.

Another element related to the wording of the letter. It should not cause the recipient unnecessary distress, give the impression that the High Court had already found them guilty, nor state that they are liable for activity carried out by others on their connection.

The first letter sent to individuals went out and obeyed the High Court’s orders. However, those who wrote back to GEIL denying their claims are finding that speculative invoicing is alive and well in the UK and in basic terms, very little has changed. It is still very much a case of pay up – or else.

A response from GEIL obtained by TorrentFreak begins with the title of the movie (which is more than a decade old) in the first line in bold, which needless to say leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination.

GEIL begins by telling the recipient that the initial letter “was approved by Mr Justice Arnold sitting in the High Court, after input from both 02′s legal representatives and Consumer Focus and Open Rights Group on behalf of consumers.”

While this statement is true, for a letter recipient unfamiliar with the case this could be construed that somehow the complaint itself (rather than just the letter) had been endorsed by not only the High Court but ISPs and consumer groups. The next sentence applies even more pressure, suggesting that the High Court believes that guilt is probable.

“The Court accepted that there was an arguable case that material had been illegally uploaded from the internet addresses we had been monitoring,” GEIL write.

Golden Eye then go on to state that they are in possession of lots of information including filehashes, filenames, times, percentage of file being shared, torrent client name, and the piece of file being shared at the precise moment of capture. The company adds that if the case proceeds to court, they will be able to produce even more data.

“All the pieces seeded by you in a raw format that can then be inspected and further analyzed [and] the raw capture of the packets sent by your P2P software to the Internet at the time of identification. This is raw data that can be analyzed further that will essentially show the piece of the content being seeded by you.”

Despite the recipient already sending a letter denying the company’s claims, the subsequent letter from GEIL continues to presume that the ISP account holder is the infringer with references to “seeded by you”, “your P2P software”, “uploaded by you” and other words to that effect.

It is only in the final few paragraphs that the letter raises the possibility that the account holder has done no wrong. Again, they attempt the ACS:Law route of trying to get the letter recipient to point the finger at someone else, even after spending the best part of three previous pages stating that the recipient is the infringer.

“If you have information regarding other people who were given access to your internet connection at the date and time our evidence shows an infringement occurred please write back with details. Alternatively if you have any other information that could suggest how your internet connection has been used to infringe our copyright then this will facilitate the conclusion of this matter,” GEIL write.

Finally, a sting in the tail for anyone who can’t come up with an adequate explanation as to how someone, somewhere, has managed to infringe GEIL’s copyrights.

“In the absence of a specific defense from you, and evidence in support of any Defense, we think it is likely that, on the balance of probabilities, the Court would conclude that it is you who is responsible for the upload by your internet connection on the date and time referred
to in our earlier letter,” the company concludes.

But of course, everything can be made to go away easily. Although GEIL were forbidden from asking for money in the original letter, they get round to that in the second. Settlement offers seen by TorrentFreak range from £350 to £800.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

“Two companies, Golden Eye (International) Limited and Ben Dover Productions (we will refer to them both as Golden Eye in this letter), allege that some of our customers broadband accounts have been used to download films from the internet, without paying for them,” O2 wrote.

“Golden Eye produced evidence which identified the anonymous IP address used to download that content. The Court then ordered O2 to check them against our customer records, and to give Golden Eye the corresponding name and address of the account holder.”

O2 then goes on to say that the High Court ordered it to hand over the names of alleged file-sharers to Golden Eye and, in an attempt to come over as the good guy, added that “O2 had no choice but to comply.”

The truth is that O2 could have made a real effort to contest the proceedings but did no such thing. As a result Golden Eye are now in possession of the identities of 2,845 O2 and BE customers to try and make money from.

Soon, and quite possibly just in time for Christmas, Golden Eye will write a letter to these O2 customers (click here to see what it will look like plus read our analysis here). In it they will outline their complicated copyright claim but ultimately announce that they are prepared to forget the whole thing if O2 and BE customers pay them some hard cash.

No amount will be mentioned but on past UK experiences it will be anything up to around £600. However, some people receiving these letters will not pay Golden Eye a single penny.

These people will have read and understood the Speculative Invoicing Handbook Second Edition, an invaluable guide released today. While the letters sent by GEIL have been approved by the High Court they are still crafted to intimidate, whereas the Speculative Invoicing Handbook is designed to inform and empower.

“The guide, which succinctly summarizes the operation of these mass litigation schemes, has proven a boon to those incorrectly accused in the past,” consumer rights campaigner and speculative invoicing expert James Bench told TorrentFreak.

It’s believed that the first edition of this superb publication enabled thousands of innocent account holders to avoid paying settlements to the infamous ACS:Law, eventually resulting in that company’s collapse and the bankruptcy of its operator.

The lawyer involved, Andrew Crossley, was also suspended by the Law Society for two years for his conduct, but he wasn’t the first casualty resulting from this type of work.

“Law firm Davenport Lyons, the pioneers of this type of volume litigation in the UK, saw two partners suspended by the Law Society and were forced to pay a substantial fine,” Bench notes.

Mindful of these unfavorable outcomes, GEIL have taken precautions.

“GEIL are the first copyright licensees to act for themselves in these matters, rather than appointing solicitors to send the letters on their behalf,” James Bench explains.

While GEIL have probably learned valuable lessons from the activities of ACS:Law, the key points remain the same.

First, the company does not have sufficient evidence to prove who has carried out any infringement. This is a huge problem for them since they can only claim settlement from the actual infringer and they don’t know who it is. They can only guess at that person’s identity – short of an ill-advised confession of course.

Second, if an Internet account holder didn’t carry out any file-sharing and didn’t tell someone else they could do so on their connection, they aren’t liable and don’t have to pay a penny. Golden Eye will eventually have to accept that and move on, even if they don’t do so straight away.

The Speculative Invoicing Handbook Second Edition can be downloaded here, and don’t forget to check out other support sites here and here. If you’ve received a letter, contact TorrentFreak in confidence.

(Update: The total of 2,845 IP addresses apparently did not relate to the same number of account holders – less than 1,000 identities have been released)

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.