Defense Against the Dark Arts of Copyright Trolling

[Ernesto]

In recent years, file-sharers around the world have been pressured to pay significant settlement fees, or face legal repercussions.

These so-called “copyright trolling” efforts have been a common occurrence in the United States for more than half a decade, and still are.

While rightsholders should be able to take legitimate piracy claims to court, there are some who resort to dodgy and extortion-like tactics extract money from alleged pirates, including people who are innocent.

This practice has been a thorn in the side of Matthew Sag, a professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and the Associate Director for Intellectual Property at the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies.

“Over the past few years, I have seen one example after another of innocent defendants being victimized by these lawsuits,” Sag explains to TorrentFreak.

This motivated the professor to take action. One of the problems he signals is that not all defense lawyers are familiar with these cases. They sometimes need dozens of hours to research them, which costs the defendant more than the cash settlement deal offered by the copyright holder.

As a result, paying off the trolls may seem like the most logical and safe option to the accused, even when they are innocent.

“Put simply, by the time your average lawyer has figured out what’s wrong with these cases and how to respond she has sunk 50 to 100 hours into a case that probably could’ve been settled for $2000 or $3000,” Sag notes.

“That makes no sense, so people settle cases with no merit. That, in turn, encourages meritless cases. We wanted to level the playing field and reduce the plaintiffs’ informational advantage,” he adds.

To balance the scales of justice, the professor wrote an article together with Jake Haskell, a recent Loyola University Law School graduate. Titled “Defense Against the Dark Arts of Copyright Trolling,” the paper provides a detailed overview of the various tactics the defense can use.

Not all cases filed by copyright holders can be characterized as “trolling.” According to Sag, copyright trolls can be best defined as “systematic opportunist, want” and he hopes that defense lawyers can use his article to prevent clear abuses.

Of course, judges play an important role as well, and some could certainly benefit from reading the paper.

“The federal courts should not be used as vending machines to issue indiscriminate hunting licenses. Judges need to keep a close eye on discovery and tactics used by the plaintiff to prolong proceedings or run up attorney’s fees,” Sag tells us.

“Hopefully, we have given defense lawyers a significant head start on figuring out how to defend these claims. If innocent defendants refused to settle, the plaintiffs would be forced to clean up their act,” he adds.

The article is a recommended read for everyone with an interest in copyright trolling in general, and is well worth a read for anyone wants to learn more about how these companies operate.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and  ANONYMOUS VPN services.



Originally Published: Sun, 14 May 2017 18:45:16 +0000
source

[Sid]

Pinned this as it's worth being THE post to which we direct anyone asking about what they should do if they've received any alarming correspondence.

tbh I haven't read the whole thing in depth but even just skimming through and looking at the graphics it's well impressive.

[Moe]

Attached for easy reference.


  SSRN-id2933200.pdf (Size: 2.9 MB / Downloads: 3,330)

[Anon58]

Thanks Ernesto...and thanks Moe for the pdf reference!

[CheezLuv]

good info, they count on intimidation, so removing that removes a big part of their advantage

[contrail]

This is great info. Hope RIGHTSCORP will go bankrupt, they only got $1,725 in their pocket as of 8/21/17

[Megaohmz]

I downloaded this article and it is probably one of the most important reads when it come to torrents and frivolous slapsuits. As a digital Librarian who is interested in preserving humanity's achievements and art , my job would be impossible without bittorrent tech. I use IP flood all the time as well as an encrypted Ubuntu as my OS as well as other measures to ensure security and privacy. I never surf the Internet with Windows, which in my opinion makes the job of these slimy trolls job easier. They could be easily taking advantage if all of the security holes and backdoors that the nS a used to spy on American citizens within the framework of Windows OS. Always quote the Fair Use Act "because I have an opinion on the subject and would like to criticize it like the Fair Use Act says that I can"!

[RobertX]

This is great info. Hope RIGHTSCORP will go bankrupt, they only got $1,725 in their pocket as of 8/21/17

Sentiment shared!

[BookWorm201993]

Thanks for the info.

[marshmello]

awesome info thanks for shareing Ernesto