Ralli News

ACS:Law File-Sharing Cases Draw To A Close
Thu 14th Jul 11 - 14:41

Ralli can confirm that the long running file-sharing cases brought by ACS:Law on behalf of Media CAT Ltd have come to an end. Ralli, which successfully acted for a number of Defendants in these matters, notes that the matters have been settled on a basis confidential between the parties.

These claims were the first fully contested cases in England and Wales dealing with alleged copyright infringement over peer to peer networks ("P2P Networks").

The BPI, a trade organisation for recorded music businesses, highlights research which estimates that between 2007 and 2012 the cumulative costs of file sharing to music companies will be £1.2bn. Therefore, a variety of law firms and other entities have sought to protect the rights of their clients by employing monitoring companies to find out what files are being shared over P2P Networks.

The legitimacy of a number of these claims made against consumers has been brought into question. Leading national law firm Ralli acted for a number of Defendants accused of copyright infringement over P2P networks in the first cases to progress past preliminary hearing in England and Wales.

Michael Forrester, a solicitor in Ralli's Intellectual Property and Information Technology team, commented:

"We considered from an early stage that these actions against our clients were not brought correctly. The Judgment and eventual settlement supports our view in all material respects."

"We are dealing with cases where consumers have explained how they cannot possibly have uploaded or downloaded copyright protected material, but they are still pursued."

"The legal basis for the claims made against these alleged file sharers involves complex legal and technical principles. These are extremely difficult for a lay person to understand and can lead to an innocent person being pursued."

"It can be incredibly upsetting for people to receive these letters and they may well have a claim in harassment, so we are urging them to come forward."

Giving Judgment, HHJ Birss QC commented on the process followed by the Claimant and ACS:Law that these cases are "based on untested legal and factual propositions and issues of technology" and that the letters sent to thousands of consumers "materially overstates the untested merits of Media C.A.T Ltd's approach".

The Judge continued that:

"ACS:Law's interest is specifically mentioned … because of course they receive 65% of the revenues from the letter writing exercise.  In fact Media CAT's financial interest is actually much less than that of ACS:Law.  Whether it was intended to or not, I cannot imagine a system better designed to create disincentives to test the issues in court.  Why take cases to court and test the assertions when one can just write more letters and collect payments from a proportion of the recipients?"

Ralli is currently advising hundreds of consumers who allege that letters received from firms alleging copyright infringement amount to harassment. Anyone in receipt of such letters can contact harassment@ralli.co.uk for a free assessment of their case.