UK File-Sharing Lawyers ACS:Law Shut Up Shop Ahead of Court

nk497 writes "Controversial legal firm ACS Law and its sole file-sharing client Media CAT have shut down their businesses, days before a ruling is due in a case they brought to the UK Patent Court. ACS Law is infamous for sending out letters to alleged illegal file sharers, demanding payment and threatening law suits. Now that ACS has a case before a judge, it's trying to drop the cases, and has now completely closed its doors. The defendants' lawyers are trying to keep the case going, in order to be able to claim back costs." That sounds right in line with other recent ACS happenings, from getting upbraided by a judge to being blacklisted by an ISP, and even putting the brakes on the file-sharing cases themselves.

Comments

Re:The slippery bastards

[_Shad0w_]

I'm inclined to agree, the judge in question is not exactly inexperienced and is a specialist in the area. They are in fact "Specialist Circuit Judge, Judge of the Patents County Court and Chairman of the Copyright Tribunal Appointments", they're also a QC.

I get the feeling, from what I've read, that he is distinctly unimpressed and has little interest in allowing them get out judicial oversight; he's actually quoted as saying, "I want to tell you that I am not happy. I am getting the impression with every twist and turn since I started looking at these cases that there is a desire to avoid any judicial scrutiny,"