US Copyright Group has enlisted the help of law firms around the country to file individual lawsuits against accused copyright infringers in their areas who have refused to settle out court. The plan is expected to commence sometime early next month.
The US Copyright Group is gearing up for a new phase of its mass lawsuit targeting tens of thousands of BitTorrent users for illegally sharing either one of the indie movies “Steam Experiment,” “Far Cry,” “Uncross the Stars,” “Gray Man,” or “Call of the Wild 3D” among others, or the Academy Award-winning movie “The Hurt Locker” online.
The DC-based venture, which it says is “combining the efforts of technology companies and a conglomeration of intellectual property law firms,” has reportedly enlisted the help of some 15 law firms around the country to begin filing individual lawsuits against people in their respective areas who have refused to settle out court.
The wave of lawsuits is expected to commence sometime during the first week of August.
The USCG has offered the accused the chance to settle out of court for $1500 with the penalties going up further if it gets no response. The real intent all along has been to encourage people to pay the fee and avoid trial, saving the law firm court costs in pursuit of much more substantial damages that it’s unlikely to ever recover. It wants people to pay the fee en masse.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Public Citizen have all been very vocal about their opposition to what they see as very thinly veiled attempt to build a “lucrative lucrative business model built from collecting settlements from the largest possible set of individual defendants” and deny “each defendant a fair chance to fight the accusations.”
The EFF has already helped line up a large number of attorneys willing to help those targeted to understand their options and may, if necessary, file a motion to quash or litigate on their behalf.
For those either guilty or simply wanting not to draw the matter out any further there’s the Arizona-based law firm The White Berberian Negotiations Group. It says for $249 it’s willing to negotiate on your behalf to secure a settlement lower than what the USCG is demanding. The deal comes with a money back guarantee.
Thousands of individual “John Doe” lawsuits have already been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Stay tuned.
These people are the scum of the earth, i can believe this has been allowed to get this far.
It’s quite a gamble to try and continue the litigation campaign. Although this is movies we’re talking about, not music. Either way, this law firm better hope that the other two cases, Thomas and Tenenbaum, doesn’t set the standard of $2,250 per non-commercial infringement online or else they are probably screwed in their pursuit for a “lucrative business model”