Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?

[Kymmy]

If you read the PRON article it does mention LAWDIT in Southhampton who's acting on behalf of a lot of clients, could be the first step for those wanting to defend this action..

Also one major point is that anyone who's ever used P2P knows that you get a lot of PRON movies get disguised as genuine downloadable software and get accidently started and partially downloaded before you realise that it's a fake...

I wonder though how many married men will just pay the damages not wanting thier name on a court case for downloading PRON

[cook1984]

Been busy but I have two very encouraging things to report!

First, I took Davenport Lyons to Small Claims Court and WON! They didn't send anyone, only some letters to the court. I won £250 from them for wasted time leading to lost earnings (charged at my hourly rate of £45+VAT), letters, stamps, envelopes, phone calls and interest. It even includes the hour I spent in court and petrol costs to drive there and back, plus parking. Oh, and £30 court costs as well.

My argument was simple: they had no intention of ever taking me to court, as evidenced by the fact that they backed down very quickly once I started asking for more details. As such they caused me financial loss (having to waste time checking computers and networks used for business, writing letters etc), which I have now recovered.

They have not paid up yet, but if I don't get a cheque come January I will be contacting a debt recovery agency. Part of me hopes they don't pay, just so the bailiffs get sent in

The other positive development is that it looks like there is a good case to be made with the Information Commissioner, as pointed out in this article:

http://torrentfreak.com/accused-of-i...rnment-081205/

Basically, the European Directive on personal data is to be interpreted as not requiring it's disclosure for purely civil matters, such as copyright infringement. As such, VM should not disclose the information, and the court was wrong to order it to be disclosed. Furthermore, it seems that Davenport Lyons must also not retain that data. I have already written to all involved parties to ask for clarification, and in DL's case to delete all data regarding myself which is stored electronically.

Please keep us informed as to the replies you get...

[Tezcatlipoca]

cook1984 - That is very good news (& also amusing, re. Small Claims ). I've just had a read through of that TF article, & the earlier one it links to about the ECJ case - very interesting. Nice template letter for the ICO too.

[theasix]

My last day to pay is tomorrow. Of course not gonna give them a penny.. What should I do if they didn't response to my letter ? Should I send another one or wait till they just send me a court thing.. ?

[cook1984]

Originally Posted by theasix

My last day to pay is tomorrow. Of course not gonna give them a penny.. What should I do if they didn't response to my letter ? Should I send another one or wait till they just send me a court thing.. ?

Their "deadlines" are totally artificial and have no legal standing, so don't worry about it.

Chances are if you wrote to them they will just give up. All you can really do it keep writing back, and maybe try Small Claims Court if you think you can make a case for financial loss.

[Tezcatlipoca]

cook1984, have you thought of maybe contacting The Register or someone about your Small Claims victory? Could make an interesting little story, following on from previous DL articles they've run.

[theasix]

cook1984 I don't really care if I can get some money back of them. Of course if they take me to court I'm gonna go there and fight. I'm just waiting for another letter and I have a good solicitor waiting for it too. So I'm a little prepared. Besides I've read a lot of it on the net and that gave me some more infos.

But You're right. I should keep writing to them and I will. I'll wait few more days and if they don't reply I wirte another one..

[dippergt750]

If you are worried about games cases they are pursuing, look back in the thread! On 4th Dec this year, Atari sacked them. There is now no case to answer.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by dippergt750

If you are worried about games cases they are pursuing, look back in the thread! On 4th Dec this year, Atari sacked them. There is now no case to answer.

Unfortunately not dipper, I fear that they will have other less well known clients to pursue claims on behalf of

[dippergt750]

Only other client known of to date is a porn distribution outfit. In the last 2 years it's been Atari only for games.

[theasix]

my alleged download was a scooter song which copyrights also belong to DigiProtect.. so it's not only pron ..

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by dippergt750

Only other client known of to date is a porn distribution outfit. In the last 2 years it's been Atari only for games.

There was also that pinball game they went after people for, & that wasn't an Atari game.

Originally Posted by theasix

my alleged download was a scooter song which copyrights also belong to DigiProtect.. so it's not only pron ..

Yep, although they are "protecting" a whole bucket load of porn, there's also a lot of other stuff (but yeah it is mainly porn it seems).

I think there was a link earlier in the thread to the list of German stuff.

[moaningmags]

Being discussed on BBC 1's Watchdog programme right now.

Originally Posted by moaningmags

Being discussed on BBC 1's Watchdog programme right now.

Lived paused Watchdog to sort the kitchen out - watching now!