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Canadian File Sharing Plaintiff Admits To Copyright Trolling

Posted by timothy on from the ok-we-like-money dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Canipre, a Montreal-based intellectual property rights enforcement firm, has admitted that it is behind the Voltage file sharing lawsuits involving TekSavvy in what is described as a 'speculative invoicing' scheme. Often referred to as copyright trolling, speculative invoicing involves sending hundreds or thousands of demand letters alleging copyright infringement and seeking thousands of dollars in compensation. Those cases rarely — if ever — go to court as the intent is simply to scare enough people into settling in order to generate a profit. The Canipre admission is important because it is consistent with arguments that the case involves copyright trolling and that the Canadian Federal Court should not support the scheme by ordering the disclosure of subscriber contact information."

13 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. A Sad Day for Canada by DotNM · · Score: 3

    It's a sad day for Canada when we start doing this kind of stuff too.

    --
    There's no place like localhost
    1. Re: A Sad Day for Canada by dropadrop · · Score: 4, Informative

      I would imagine that you can't judge how sad the day is before seeing what the reaction is. I would imagine this scheme is active in most countries enforcing copyright.

    2. Re:A Sad Day for Canada by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Informative

      There are no lack of European countries with proportional voting systems who are taking hard lines on copyright issues. It seems to matter little how elected representatives are chosen, what seems to matter is that mainline political parties in most countries are sucking at the teat of Big Media.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  2. Now they infest Canada. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Voltage Films is a well known copyright trolling firm in the United States. Unfortunately for our neighbors to the north, it appears that these cockroaches are now infesting them as well.

    Here's a sample of the RECENT cases they've filed in the U.S.:

    Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-12
    Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013

    Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-24
    Copyright Infringement – Ohio Northern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013

    Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-11
    Copyright Infringement – Ohio Northern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013

    Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-43
    Copyright Infringement – Ohio Northern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013

    Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-22
    Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013

    Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-26
    Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013

    Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-19
    Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013

    Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-72
    Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013

    Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1-13
    Copyright Infringement – Ohio Southern District Court Filed: 3/4/2013

    Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Does 1 - 198
    Copyright Infringement – Oregon District Court Filed: 2/19/2013

    Voltage has many other ongoing lawsuits in the states. They've been filing them since at least early 2011.

  3. the appropriate response by sribe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Turn over all the subscriber info to Canpire immediately. Let them send out demand letters. Then send out letters to all those subscribers explaining the exact nature of Canpire's business, on the theory that there's a least a handful of those subscribers with money, good lawyers, and short tempers ;-)

    1. Re:the appropriate response by realityimpaired · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Absolutely not.

      I'm not worried about receiving a letter from them, but I absolutely do not want them to have my contact information at all. Who's to say what they're going to do with that information besides launch a bullshit lawsuit? They may still be able to make money off it, even if not a single suit gets filed.

  4. Yeah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    'speculative invoicing' I think the correct term would be blackmail.

  5. Fraud? by CheeseTroll · · Score: 4, Insightful

    IANAL, but why isn't this simply considered fraud, and prosecuted as such?

    --
    A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
    1. Re:Fraud? by realityimpaired · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because, theoretically, there actually has been a crime committed in which they are actually the victims. As such, they have a right to defend their properties.

      Whether they actually intend to prosecute it is irrelevant, when considering whether they have an entitlement to do so.

      sucks, don't it?

    2. Re:Fraud? by realityimpaired · · Score: 3, Informative

      send a notice making unfounded claims

      that's the point... the claims aren't unfounded, at least not to the best of their knowledge. They have evidence (which has yet to be accepted/proven in court) which links the IP address in question to an infringement that is illegal under Canadian law. They're seeking to have the information which links the IP address to a real person so that they can sue.

      Whether they actually intend to sue, or simply send threatening letters, has nothing to do with it. The whole point of the case is that the validity of IP address evidence itself needs to be tested in court before the subscriber information is released, not after.

      The CIPPIC briefs in this case are particularly interesting/important reading... you can find them, along with all of the other court documents, here: http://www.teksavvy.com/en/why-teksavvy/in-the-news/teksavvy-customer-notices/legal-documents-for-request-for-customer-information

    3. Re:Fraud? by davecb · · Score: 3, Interesting

      In addition, their actions have been found to be a fraud upon the courts in some cases.

      Applying to the courts for an order to identify people on the grounds you will sue them, and then extorting payments instead, makes the initial application fraudulent.

      In the U.S. and the U.K., this has led to legal or law-society actions against the fraudulent plaintiffs. In Canada, as we just passed a law to limit such suits, it may lead to stronger measures.

      --dave

      --
      davecb@spamcop.net
  6. Interesting business model by Virtucon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    1) Send out threatening letters
    2) ???
    3) Profit!

    I call that a Racket as in Racketerring...

    Traditionally, the word racket is used to describe a business (or syndicate) that is based on the example of the protection racket and indicates a belief that it is engaged in the sale of a solution to a problem that the institution itself creates or perpetuates, with the specific intent to engender continual patronage.

    So you have companies asking people to pay for protection or immunity from further civil or criminal prosecution. All they have to do is just pay up.

    I don't know if Canada has Racket laws, but in the US we do have the RICO law which has been effective in going after organized crime, especially around Rackets such as this.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
  7. Re:In Other Words by JMJimmy · · Score: 4, Informative

    You mean extortion. Blackmail involves extortion by keeping a secret/returning information/etc.