Abmahnung der Rechtsanwälte Simon und Partner - Licence Keeper AG

[Butcho]

Die Rechtsanwälte Simon & Partner haben im Namen der Licence Keeper AG eine neue Abmahnwelle gestartet. Seit Montag, den 04.03.2009, erreichen unsere Kanzlei dutzende Anrufe abgemahnter Mandanten, welche über peer-to-peer-Netzwerke (p2p) Filmmaterial der Licence Keeper AG zum Upload bereit gestellt haben sollen.
Inhaltlich unterscheiden sich die neuen Abmahnschreiben auf den ersten Blick kaum von den bisherigen Schreiben aus dem Jahr 2008.
Neben der Abgabe einer strafbewehrten Unterlassungs- und Verpflichtungserklärung fordern die Rechtsanwälte Simon & Partner nach wie vor von den Betroffenen den Ersatz von Rechtsanwaltskosten sowie Schadensersatz.
Den Abgemahnten wird angeboten alle Ansprüche gegen eine Zahlung in Höhe von EUR 1.600,00 abzugelten (bei einem Film). Andernfalls behalte sich die Licence Keeper AG vor, sämtlichen Schadensersatz und Rechtsanwaltskosten gerichtlich einzufordern...

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[slikrapid]

i imagine its scary when you get an official letter from a multi-million company threatening to sue you, there is not much you can do; a classic case of big & powerful vs. small & unprotected

you can back down, admit and hope to have enough money to pay for their claims, or fight them head on like TPB did

to be able to fight you should have some backup in your legal system (eg. sweden), competent lawyers (hopefully pro-bono 'cavaliers', hint: Erin Brockovich type), impartial judges, patience and probably deep pockets too; there should be a sense of fighting for the greater good, trying to make a legal precedent for future related cases

their tactics is always: scare the enemy first, but give him an easier option (settlement) to pay and be forgiven, i assume most of the targeted people/companies go for this way and let someone else follow the harder path

it would be interesting to know if there are some strong law companies that specialize in these matters, exclusively defending the less powerful side

[anon]

i imagine its scary when you get an official letter from a multi-million company threatening to sue you, there is not much you can do; a classic case of big & powerful vs. small & unprotected

And guess who has the winning streak... people would rather settle out of court and pay an "small" amount of money, rather than taking the risk of going to jail, just like you said. I'm sure they don't even look at who they send the letters to - the cases of the grandmother being sued six months after she died, for a download she didn't even make, the 10-year-old girl being sued for infringement committed at age 7, or the RIAA claiming it had seen IPs allocated to printers downloading copyrighted material, are well-known.

it would be interesting to know if there are some strong law companies that specialize in these matters, exclusively defending the less powerful side

Fox at PhoenixLabs is offering legal assistance to those that have received copyright infringement letters. There was also a TF article about a lawyer defending filesharers last year. But as far as I know there are no law firms dedicated to doing so - it just isn't profitable enough for them

[justfortheshu]

if i understand the text right these people were uploading public torrents...i think these days everybody should know that it is pretty risky to seed for "unknown people". so i dont know why they dont use private trackers where the risk isnt that high, even if a tracker got busted the chance that the users could get sue is low (oink for example)

[anon]

Maybe they want their uploads to be available for virtually everyone - even if they're open for sign-ups, private trackers have a user limit.

Regarding OiNK, well, Allan Ellis and the uploaders did get sued, and the process was desperately long, bail dates being extended all the time. For now, four of the uploaders have been sentenced to community service, but the fate of the fifth one and Mr Ellis is still unknown.

[slikrapid]

I'm sure they don't even look at who they send the letters to - the cases of the grandmother being sued six months after she died, for a download she didn't even make, the 10-year-old girl being sued for infringement committed at age 7

such cases are a disgrace showing how power can be abused; imo such behaviour should be prosecuted by the government/attorney general by the way of public prosecution

Fox at PhoenixLabs is offering legal assistance to those that have received copyright infringement letters.

well, at least a step in the right direction, hopefully there will be more