Announces $249 charge for helping negotiate a settlement “better than that which you were offered” or it will refund your money.
With thousands of people caught up in the US Copyright Group’s mass “spam-igation” lawsuit targeting thousands of BitTorrent users accused of illegal downloading, the White Berberian Negotiations Group, an Arizona-based law firm, is offering its help for $249.
The USCG began targeting tens of thousands of BitTorrent users back in March on behalf of a number of independent film producers. It later added the Academy Award-winning movie “The Hurt Locker” to the mix.
The way the mass lawsuit works is that the USCG offers the accused the chance to settle out of court for a nominal fee, usually between $1500 and $2500. It really has no intention of taking everyone to court because the cost of doing so would make the plan financially nonviable.
This is why the The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has been so critical of the USCG, calling the organization a “copyright troll” involved in “shaking down individuals for fast settlements a thousand at a time.”
The White Berberian Negotiations Group is offering to negotiate on behalf of accused individuals to secure a settlement lower than what the USCG is demanding. The deal comes with a money back guarantee.
“We charge $249 for negotiating a settlement with the Plaintiff. If we are unable to obtain a settlement better than that which you were offered, we will refund your money,” reads its website. “Our fee only covers settlement negotiations. It does not cover any litigation-related activities, although we may undertake such representation pursuant to a separate agreement and fee arrangement.”
It sounds like a pretty good deal, especially if you know you’re guilty and want to get the whole thing over with. For those that are innocent I mentioned yesterday that the EFF had compiled a nationwide list of lawyers willing to help.
Stay tuned.
Chris, this site is called ZeroPaid for a reason. It is not good they are being sued. What we should be saying is don’t get caught next time and cover up your tracks.
well there’s a very simple solution: don’t steal movies. don’t pirate movies. go see them in theaters, buy a dvd, rent it on redbox for $1 and save $2499. You can see a movie for $1. Good that all these thieves are getting sued.
Yet again, you are hastily making presumptions and accusing unknown people of being ‘thieves’. Little do you know, these people in fact do go to theaters and buy DVD’s. However, they should be able to determine whether a particular film is worthwhile, before paying for it. These lawsuits are neither appropriate nor justifiable whatsoever. That point is fairly trivial to understand, assuming you can distinguish between ‘worth’ and ‘cost’.
And the buzzards swoop in for a piece of the pie!
How do you know they aren’t both in it together?
Bad lawyer: “I’ll settle for $2,500″
Good lawyer: “I’ll persuade him to settle for $1,750 if you give me $250.”
a) Victim does nothing: lawyers get $2,000 ($2,500 minus $500 of effort to get it).
b) Victim accepts deal: lawyers get $2,000 ($1,750+$250).
They’re laughing all the way to the bank…
Interesting, but Im sure that’s illegal. Once a lawyer becomes your designated counsel he cant then undermine your defense.
Extortion is illegal too, but this doesn’t stop the US Copyright Group now does it?
Are you trying to tell me that lawyers wouldn’t do anything unethical, or that they wouldn’t do anything illegal?
There’s a big difference.
In all the copyright engendered litigation between publishing corporation vs individual, what maintains your presumption that lawyers are squeaky clean saints, steadfastly refusing to compromise principles for money, until proven otherwise?
If they’ll sue little girls for millions of dollars they’ll have no compunction setting up two law firms in a good cop/bad cop protection racket.
Of course there’s a difference, but I think as soon as you pay them the $250 bucks and they become your legal counsel it’s illegal for them to undermine yoiur case. They can get disbarred.
So, they don’t ‘undermine your case’ – whether there’s a case or not. They still get your $250, you still pay a reduced settlement of $1,750 (hypothetically).
There’s no law against profiting from arranging lower settlements – nothing to do with undermining cases.
If Alberto says he’ll break your windows unless you pay him $2500, but Bruno says he’ll get him to go easy and only charge you $1750, if you bung him $250 for his trouble, where the heck does a court of law come into it? And who cares whether Alberto and Bruno are brothers?
Once again, you CAN’T SUE AN IP ADDRESS.