Adventus Domini
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User ID: 893880
 United States
06/17/2013 02:37 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Legal Extortion: Copyright Trolling [ link to www.naturalnews.com] A brief explanation of copyright trolling
It's called copyright trolling because some law firms make the bulk of their revenue by trolling or looking for potential violations as a means of grossing large revenues by shaking down those who cannot afford an attorney but are willing to pay a settlement fee to that law firm or attorney.
It has little or nothing to do with protecting copyrights. It is extortion by legal means.
A law firm out of Chicago with representatives throughout the nation specialized in porno trolling internet service providers (ISPs) with "John Doe" subpoenas to obtain actual identities via IP addresses and locate internet porn users that downloaded photos or videos to send them threatening letters.
The quandary of social stigma among family, friends, and fellow workers made it easy for that firm to collect just under $15 million from 20,000 accused with 350 lawsuits.
This extortion racket isn't confined to porno users. A photo copyright attorney recently sent a letter threatening court action with the consequence of a $150,000 fine for each infringement to a small time blogger promoting the Lincoln Nebraska marathon. The infringement was for using a copyrighted nighttime skyline photo of Lincoln, NE.
So that blogger had to decide whether to hire a costly attorney, pay an upfront settlement fee to the attorney's office of $9,000, or ignore the letter and be trapped into paying a court enforced default penalty, which is then subject to collection harassment.
So what can a victim of imagery, text, audio, or video copyright trolling harassment do?When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 38940141
United States
06/17/2013 02:46 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Legal Extortion: Copyright Trolling If they have the money to pay for the infringement to the trolls why wouldn't they have the money for a lawyer to represent them? |
Adventus Domini
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User ID: 893880
United States
06/17/2013 02:49 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Legal Extortion: Copyright Trolling If they have the money to pay for the infringement to the trolls why wouldn't they have the money for a lawyer to represent them?
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 38940141 $9K is nothing compared to fighting a legal battle. When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. |
Adventus Domini
(OP)
User ID: 893880
United States
06/17/2013 04:10 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Legal Extortion: Copyright Trolling  When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. |
