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Ministry of Sound sues alleged filesharers
UK SUPER CLUB the Ministry of Sound has dashed off thousands of letters demanding cash from Internet users it alleges have illegally downloaded music.
M'learned fiends Gallant Macmillan sent out 2,000 letters claiming that the user had infringed Ministry of Sound's copyright. Each of the letters demands £350 from the user or they will haul them before the beak.
It marks a continuation of the trend started by ACS:Law, which has sent many thousands of letters demanding cash from alleged file sharers.
The technique is to demand a sum like £300 to avoid having to hire a lawyer if the case goes to court and potentially be ordered to pay a huge amount in damages if the victim is found liable.
Some have paid up mostly because of the threat of huge damages if they don't. Others claim not to have downloaded the tracks.
Legal experts say the threats are largely unenforceable. It would require a user to either confess or for the Ministry of Sound to obtain a court order to seize a computer and then locate the file at issue on its hard drive.
The BPI, which represents the music industry, says it does not condone the technique.
It told the Guardian that its view was that legal action is best reserved for the most persistent or serious offenders, rather than widely used as a first response.
So far most of those who have received the letters have binned them and Gallant Macmillan has not taken anyone to court yet. However it said it is serious when it threatens legal action.
We guess that it will probably go through the process with one or two of the Internet users to whom it sent letters as a warning to others.
However the method of threatening users with court cases has been the subject of a court case by consumer watchdog Which?, and Davenport Lyons, the law firm that pioneered the approach, is facing a probe by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. µ
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Folks,
This is a red herring. There won't be any legal action!
Just because ACS Law and Gallant Macmillan have sent letters, they are just words on paper designed to frighten and intimidate their intended recipients.
For a start, there would have to be evidence amounting to substantially more than an IP address and these legal firms (which I use in the loosest sense of the word) would have to be very sure that their cases for civil action would succeed.
I cannot imagine the courts taking a favourable view of two legal firms, which have now established themselves as the next thing since the ambulance chasing brigage, attempting to haul innocent individuals into a civil court case without evidence.
If they lose - and without evidence, there is a substantial likelihood of that happening - they will leave with their tail between their legs, mounting legal costs and their reputation (or lack of) in a worse state than now.
With some hope, they will disappear down a hole in the next few months, with their reputation in tatters unless embarrassment and ridicule get the better of them first.
Stay strong. Remain vigilant. And fight it! But don't pay!
Wow, if this practice is "legal" I ought to just create some business, and send out lawsuit threatening letters so that people can give me money for not suing them in some future complaint. I'll call it "insurance" or even better "protection"!
I think the legal term is "Racketeering", pay us the money or we'll burn down your business/take you to court.
The meaning of “serious” would have to be that it follows up most or all of its threats. To let most of them go, and only chase up a few, is not what one would call “serious”.
This is just a variation of the old Ambulance Chasers Scam.
Pay us this money or else we will take you to court.
Very much like the PPC (Private Carparking Scam)
These are the one I know about but I'm sure others know of many more which are just the same.
If only they could be charged with 'taking money with menance'
maybe if they made available more than just vol 1 of ministry of sound on spotify then there would be no need to illegally download there tracks.
come on media guys, sort your 21st century sales model out before trying to turn all your customers into crim's
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,85908.0.html
thread on my isp's forum on acs law and as so far it looks like they have broken the NPO order by not passing on the data on how many of plusnets customers was taken to court vs those fined