Copyright Law

UK Law Firm Drops ?Non-Viable, Non-Beneficial? P2P Cases

By Jared Moya

However, still warns has batch of “settlement” letters ready to be mailed to alleged file-sharers “early in the New Year.”

Earlier this month I mentioned how ACS:Law, a UK-based law firm that ?specializes in assisting intellectual property rights holders exploit and enforce their rights globally,? announced that on January 1st it plans to target some 15,000 accused illegal file-sharers across the UK.

The plan is part of what it calls its ?revolutionary business model? that ?generates revenue for rights holders and effectively decreases copyright infringement in a measurable and sustainable way? unlike the ?costly and ineffective? anti-piracy measures of other companies.

However, in a bit of backpedaling to perhaps soften this harsh rhetoric, it now says that it’s reviewed all the cases it currently has open and has decided to drop a “good number” of them.

“We have been reviewing all cases which are currently open, and a good number of these cases have been dropped, where we do not either consider litigation to be a viable option or to be beneficial to our clients,” it says. “A letter has been sent out today informing those involved of this, and explaining that they now owe our client?s a duty of care to ensure this type of activity does not happen again.”

So for some a settlement letter has luckily become a simple warning letter.

ACS:Law still maintains that “litigation remains a possibility” for these individuals, but that regardless the remainder can expect to see a settlement letter arrive in their mailbox sometime soon.

“We have taken instructions from our clients to issue the next batch of proceedings early in the New Year, and we would urge anyone who has not settled at this stage to consider doing so before further costs are incurred,” it adds.

Amazingly, despite data showing the method failed miserably for the RIAA, and who eventually concluded as much before dropping the strategy a little over one year ago, ACS:Law says mass lawsuits will allow it to “demonstrate that the fight against piracy is winnable” and that it “will continue this pursuit into the next decade.”

I’m sure the RIAA said the same thing as they sat around a conference table back in 1999 only to eventually discover in the “next decade” that it was no match for technology and the millions around the world involved in improving P2P on a daily basis.

Edmund Burke’s quotation “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it” comes to mind.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on December 30, 2009 (boomark / email).