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Patent and Copyright Wars Gone Wild

Posted by samzenpus on from the I'll-go-away-for-a-dollar dept.

snydeq writes "While Apple and Samsung fight over patents and prototypes, other copyright trolls are waging an X-rated battle on innocent users, as lawyers representing some adult movie companies are sending letters accusing users of illegally downloading their movies and saying that, for a price, they can make the charges go away. 'Cases like this, usually involving pornographic content, are very common,' Mitch Stoltz, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation said. At least 250,000 individuals have been named in group lawsuits over the last few years. There's a very common belief that if someone pirates your Wi-Fi connection or uses your computer without your permission, you are responsible for illegal downloads of copyrighted material. That's not true, says Stoltz; the law is quite clear. However, the lawyers who bring those cases use that misperception to convince innocent people that they had better pay up. Since $3,500 is just a fraction of the money it would take to fight a case in court, most people simply settle."

22 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Dear Proprietarians and Patent Trolls by Ralph+Spoilsport · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fuck You.

    --
    Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
    1. Re:Dear Proprietarians and Patent Trolls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Fuck You.

      It's easy to blame those who (ab)use the system. But they're not the real problem. The real underlying problem is the system itself. If the system is bad in design, there will always be those who abuse it and take advantage of it. Can't really blame them, now can you?

    2. Re:Dear Proprietarians and Patent Trolls by platypussrex · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I screwed up and read TFA. What a waste of electronic ink. Talk about lack of substance, analysis, or depth. I feel dumber afterwards than I did before I read it. This is probably a real topic, but you'd never know if from that article.

    3. Re:Dear Proprietarians and Patent Trolls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why, yes. Yes we can.

    4. Re:Dear Proprietarians and Patent Trolls by drooling-dog · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Absolutely we can. The "system" didn't appear out of nowhere from pure intentions. It was designed, bought and paid for by the very interests that are now abusing it for profit. It's how politics works now.

    5. Re:Dear Proprietarians and Patent Trolls by fredprado · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Unfortunately only in very specific cases. Nowadays there are considerably more cases where extortion is legal than cases where it is not.

    6. Re:Dear Proprietarians and Patent Trolls by Lord_of_the_nerf · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's even easier to blame the knife and not the murderer.

    7. Re:Dear Proprietarians and Patent Trolls by bmo · · Score: 4, Informative

      This. Holy shit that hurt to read.

      This guy gets paid to write this article that's all over the place? Did he smoke a fattie while writing it or was he just drunk?

      Yes, it's an actual issue. You're much better off reading Ray Beckerman's blog.

      http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/

      --
      BMO

    8. Re:Dear Proprietarians and Patent Trolls by DigiShaman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "Don't hate the playa, hate the game" - Ice T

      I hate both the game and the players that play it. The only winning move is not to play.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    9. Re:Dear Proprietarians and Patent Trolls by ldobehardcore · · Score: 5, Funny

      Cthulu 2012: Why Settle For A Lesser Evil?

      --
      Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you
    10. Re:Dear Proprietarians and Patent Trolls by rbrausse · · Score: 4, Informative

      Can we please just vote for "No President" for the next four years?

      Belgium had between June 2010 and November 2011 no functioning central government (only a managing administration without own majority in the parliament) - and the country still functioned. So yes, "no president" could be an interesting and working way of politicking.

  2. Plus, there's the embarrassment factor by Sparx139 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I mean, really, who wants to be named on court documents for allegedly pirating porn?

    --
    Our culture doesn't get smarter, it just finds new ways of being retarded.
    1. Re:Plus, there's the embarrassment factor by Gaygirlie · · Score: 5, Funny

      I wouldn't mind. Everyone knows I'm a regular, old perv, it'd just earn me some street-cred.

    2. Re:Plus, there's the embarrassment factor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You know this may finally be just the impetus that we need to come out into the open....

      I too am a pervert.

      That felt good to get off my chest :)

      It's funny, lately I had a friend confess to me he was in deep shit with his girlfriend over an alleged "porn addiction" because he got caught surfing porn. I told him every man is addicted to porn. There is no such thing as "porn addiction", the truth is, there is masturbation addiction. As long as you are not chaffing, or getting pulled over, or distracted by sounds of people in the park, or unable to keep a job, you are just fine.

      Women... you are full of shit. All of you are reading your versions of porn right now. It's called Fifty Shades of Wet Vagina.

      We don't have anything to hide guys. Don't let these assclown lawyers bully you into submission. Stand up! Be Proud!

      I MASTURBATE TO PORN ON THE INTERNET!

      Where's our fucking parade?

      submitted anonymously because I don't want anybody to see I wrote this.. especially the you-know-who

    3. Re:Plus, there's the embarrassment factor by Gaygirlie · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's funny, lately I had a friend confess to me he was in deep shit with his girlfriend over an alleged "porn addiction" because he got caught surfing porn. I told him every man is addicted to porn. There is no such thing as "porn addiction", the truth is, there is masturbation addiction.

      Actually, there is pornography addiction; some people just get so attached to porn that they can't get aroused at all by anything else and they go to unhealthy lengths to collect and consume porn. Addiction to masturbation is a separate thing, though you often find both issues in the same individual. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_addiction

      Now, before anyone jumps to some strange conclusions -- this is Slashdot, after all -- I'm definitely not saying masturbating even on daily basis is indicative of an addict nor that it is even slightly abnormal. In fact there's hardly anything more normal than masturbating; it's really a core instinct in us humans.

      Women... you are full of shit. All of you are reading your versions of porn right now. It's called Fifty Shades of Wet Vagina.

      Hey, I take offense to that, I'm female, you know? I have never read Fifty Shades of Grey nor do I plan to, nor do I like Twilight, either.

  3. Stonewall or Fight! by grot · · Score: 5, Informative

    IAAL, and I've worked on a bunch of these cases. The real problem is, it's almost always cheaper to settle than to fight. This is what we call a "cost of defense" shakedown: if it would cost $5k to fight, then it makes sense to pay $3k to make it go away. However, there are a few things to keep in mind:

    * The trolls are very unlikely to go after any individual, no matter how much they huff and puff. The reason is, if they have 1000 Does in a complaint, and they start going against one of them, that Doe will (eventually) get copies of the evidence against him. If it's sh!t (and I believe it will probably turn out to be) then the other 999 Does will see that, and no longer be willing to pay.

    * The insurance industry had a problem with cost-of-defense complaints: crappy auto accidents that weren't worth more than a few grand in damages. But they banded together and fought every single one of them (paying just the actual damages & medical, and fighting almost every "pain & suffering" claim). And now, you can hardly find a PI lawyer to take a small case -- they know there's no money in it. So the insurance companies don't have to fight any more, and they don't even consider paying anything you can't produce a receipt for.

    The only way to clean up these trolls is if some Does sack up and fight, or if the courts stop going along with the shakedown.

    1. Re:Stonewall or Fight! by JDG1980 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The insurance industry had a problem with cost-of-defense complaints: crappy auto accidents that weren't worth more than a few grand in damages. But they banded together and fought every single one of them (paying just the actual damages & medical, and fighting almost every "pain & suffering" claim).

      Not doubting you, but is this a universal thing? About two years ago, my father was in a car crash, and the experience he went through was different. The incident happened when he was supposedly looking at the wrong traffic light (at this location, there are 2 parallel traffic light intersections less than 50 feet apart) and T-boned another car. My father was shaken, but unhurt. The other driver broke a finger in the crash. In addition, both cars were totaled. The insurance company paid out just under $100,000 to the other driver, which fortunately slid in right below the coverage limit on the policy. Still a lot for injuries that minor – I remember commenting that I'd gladly suffer a broken finger for a hundred grand. It can't possibly have cost that much in medical costs, and I'm pretty sure there was a major "pain and suffering" component. This was a small insurance company, so maybe they weren't in on the collaborative deal?

  4. They tried this in the UK... by microbread · · Score: 4, Informative

    And the courts weren't happy about it. The wording of the letter has to be extremely precise and boils down to:

    We think you've been downloading porn, but we can't prove it. We'd like you to pay us some protection money, but legally we can't force you to without you agreeing to show us what's on your hard drive.

    So, there's no onus on you to pay up whatsoever. Remember that IP addresses are still not considered solid evidence in most countries. To the extent that if your laptop gets stolen and you have an IP address and a GPS fix on the crook's address, the police often refuse to go round and batter the door down because it's they need more proof.

    1. Re:They tried this in the UK... by symbolset · · Score: 4, Interesting

      To the extent that if your laptop gets stolen and you have an IP address and a GPS fix on the crook's address, the police often refuse to go round and batter the door down because it's they need more proof.

      That's just a domestic residential robbery or burglary. In search of evidence to support a charge of violation of the laws against the criminal tresspass of Steamboat Willy's IP rights they will not just batter down your door - the door doesn't even have to be in their US jurisdiction.

      --
      Help stamp out iliturcy.
  5. Article has nothing to do with patents by Theaetetus · · Score: 4, Funny
    While Apple and Samsung fight over patents and prototypes, other copyright trolls are waging an X-rated battle...

    While China and America vie for Gold in London, other copyright trolls are waging an X-rated battle...

    While the Horde and Alliance battle in the Outlands, other copyright trolls are waging an X-rated battle...

    While McDonalds and Burger King fight over the best fries, other copyright trolls are waging an X-rated battle...

    While sensationalist submitters and editors figh- oh, wait, they're in total agreement.

  6. you blame both by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

    a bad system doesn't excuse bad actors

    you fix the system AND you punish the bad actors

    and will also oftentimes find that the bad system continues to exist the way it does precisely because of efforts by the bad actors. such as professional groups and business consortia giving money to politicians

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  7. Yes we can by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In no small part because there's no such thing as a perfect system. If you demand a perfect legal system you'll never have one. Part of what leads to shitloads of convoluted laws is assholes that exploit the system, requiring legislation to deal with them.

    I had a microcosm of that on a forum I admin. Asshole line-steppers who were always seeking to cause trouble and just skirt the rules. I kept piling on rules and more rules which just made things worse. Finally I replaced it with "Don't be a dick." They whined because it was vague, and got banned for violating it later, but everyone else was quite happy.

    So yes you can get mad at assholes that abuse the system. Not saying the system doesn't need to be fixed but that doesn't mean that the abusers don't deserve to get set on fire.