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

[Mathinker]

> and they look after their own.

If they believe the conduct of these lawyers will be publicized enough to reflect on their own reputation or the reputation of the legal system itself, there is a chance they'll sanction / disbar them anyway.

The Playing Victim Pattern

[eddy]

I see a pattern wrt fraudsters who go out and tell the press that they suddenly fear for their very lives from the people they've previously felt so good about extorting. This guy is doing it, and Darl McBride was doing it. Same pattern. Both use hyperbole without evidence, and they never contact the authorities, just the press. A press who then, disgustingly, report what the scumbags said verbatim without reflection.

Re:The Playing Victim Pattern

[Spad]

Well to be fair, who would have thought that making essentially unfounded legal threats against people, trying to extort money from them and threatening to "expose" their alleged "illegal" porn downloading in the hope that they'll choose a cash settlement over having their life ruined would upset people in any way?

Re:The slippery bastards

[Spad]

I don't know, the judge in this case seemed pretty pissed off at the way ACS:Law have been behaving and their attempts to drop cases and close their business aren't going to help endear them to him.

Bear in mind that they're also being investigated by pretty much every legal regulatory body and consumer protection organisation in the UK, not just as ACS:Law but also Andrew Crossley himself, so there's still a good chance they won't get away with it.

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,"