Thread: Porn lawyer ploy turned over by court

Source: Porn lawyer ploy turned over by court

A lawyer working on behalf of a porn studio, who was using the legal system to squeeze cash out of BitTorrent users, has lost his appeal against sanctions.



Mick Haig Productions thought that it was onto a nice little earner when it filed 670 John Doe complaints against uses of BitTorrent.
The company had a cunning plan of suing anonymous internet users for allegedly downloading pornography illegally using the powers of the court to find their identity, then shaming or intimidating them into settling for thousands of dollars.
Although the tactic had been used in other cases, it was fast running out of steam, particularly in cases where adult films were involved. The feeling of lower courts was that the process was not serving the interests of justice. Even if people were innocent they were more likely to pay whatever the adult film maker wanted, rather than face the embarrassment of going to court.
When a lower court sanctioned Mick Haig's lawyer for this behaviour he appealed. Now those sanctions have been affirmed by 5th Circuit.
According to the Recording Industry versus the People, the appeals court deplored the plaintiff's strategy of suing anonymous internet users for allegedly downloading pornography illegally using the powers of the court to find their identity, then shaming or intimidating them into settling for thousands of dollars.
It looks like the adult film industry, if it wants to take on file sharers, will have to come up with another cunning plan.

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