p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- “I just received a letter through the post today from a company called Davenport Lyons stating on a certain day and time i downloaded Test Drive Unlimited,” says a post on bit-tech.net Forums.

It continues, “now i know i didnt do this, they have my ip address and have said through a high court order they have obtained my details from my isp and are sueing me to the tune of £530 wtf. Has any one heard of these going on’s.

“This is very stressful as its alot of money for something that i havnt done, any advice people.”

Ordinary people with very ordinary incomes

Lawyers at Britain’s Davenport Lyons thought they’d struck the mother lode with a plan mimicking Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG’s anti-P2P, anti-file sharing sue ‘em all campaign.

The Big 4 labels use the likes of their RIAA in the US and BPI in the UK to extort consumers saying unless they ’settle’ for amounts starting at $3,000, they could find themselves in court.

Since 99.99999% of their victims are very ordinary people with very ordinary incomes — and no teams of specialised lawyers on tap — some take what seems to them to be the only way out.

One of the Big 4’s recent triumphs involves transplant patient Ciara Sauro who couldn’t defend herself against an RIAA copyright attack. Consequently, lacking legal representation, she was accused of being a music pirate and faced almost $8,000 in fines.

Good approach, decided Davenport Lyons of the RIAA technique. So they tried it out on a Scottish man and wife, Ken and Gill Murdoch, among hundreds of others, accusing them of stealing an Atari game.

But Atari ultimately fired the law firm, also dropping its lawsuit against the Murdochs, who’d been wrongly accused by Davenport Lyons and online scalp-hunter Logistep of gaining illegal possession of Atari’s Race 07.

Producers of hardcore gay porn

Now, consumer rights lobby Which? has filed an official complaint against Davenport Lyons’ for its, “campaign of letters alleging illegal filesharing,” says The Register.

“For several months Davenport Lyons has been sending letters to individuals accusing them of pirating videogames via peer-to-peer networks, and demanding £500 on behalf of rights holders,” says the story, going on:

“The London-based law firm recently branched out into threats on behalf of producers of hardcore gay porn.”

However Which?, formerly the Consumers’ Association, “has reported Davenport Lyons to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA),” says the story.

The complaint includes claims that Davenport Lyons “make incorrect assertions about the nature of copyright infringement; ignore the evidence presented in defence; and increase the level of compensation claimed over the period of correspondence,” says The Register, going on:

“Which? lawyers were also unhappy that Davenport Lyons tells its targets that failing to secure their internet connection, such as by operating an unencrypted Wi-Fi network, is grounds for legal action.”

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bit-tech.net Forums – DavenPort lyons Suing me, July 9, 2008
recent triumphs – Is the RIAA being attacked from within?, December 8, 2008
The Register – Regulator to probe Davenport Lyons’ P2P porn cash demands, December 10, 2008

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 10:23 am and is filed under Freedom, P2P. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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