British lawyers to target individual file-sharers

The UK law firm ACS:Law plans to sue as many as 15.000 individual alleged file sharers, starting in the new year.

People receive an accusatory letter from the firm stating that they are suspected of illegally downloading music, games or movies. They are provided with the “opportunity” to settle the matter out of court for several hundred pounds. When opting not to settle, Andrew Crossley of ACS:Law, quoted by the BBC, says they can look forward to a court case in which damages: “would run into several thousands of pounds.”

ACS:Law has already started sending letters on a smaller scale but can now expand its affairs dramatically. It has recently obtained two orders by the High Court for ISPs to release the identities of account holders of around 30.000 IP numbers that turned up in the software monitoring file-sharing. These data will be used to target alleged file-sharers en masse. 

The firm’s actions are met with much criticism. Consumer organisation Which? likened the approach to blackmail. "A lot are accused of downloading pornography," said spokesperson Jaclyn Clarabut. "People find it distressing or embarrassing and pay up." In other cases, people, "don't want the threat of court action" as they may not be able to pay a solicitor.

Michael Coyle, a lawyer at Lawdit, that has represented several hundred people who had received a similar letter, also criticised this approach. He characterised the plans as "having very little to do with protecting the rights of the copyright holder".

On the contrary, he commented, they have "more to do with making money from alleging copyright infringements on a massive scale".

In previous cases of a similar nature, none of his clients had ever lost such a case, but some had chosen not to take their chances and settle. "This scattergun approach to the file sharing litigation will inevitably result in a large number of innocent parties being issued with a claim for copyright infringement."

Crossley of ACS:Law claims such collateral damage will be minimal as he is confident that the data on which the accusations are based, are reliable.

2-12-2009