[pp.int.general] Companies that trap and sue P2P users in Germany

[Markus Drenger]

Hi,

in short: yes, they do.

long version:
rights holders pay lawyers or "warning companies" to sue people. they
have a secret software that watches p2p traffic. if they see an
infrigement they can go to your isp and ask for your name and adress by
providing IP and timestamp.
Then they send you a warning letter "don't do it again and here is your
bill". Courts ruled that a warning letter for a first noncommercial
"small" infrigement may be up to 100€.
Please note: this entire process is extrajudicial. Their business case
is "pay a little fine or we take this to court" and many people pay.

There is misuse of this concept:
companies, specialised in writing warning letters, send the same letter
to tenthousands of people, we even have a word for that "Abmahnwelle" -
"wave of warnings".
There are stories of those companys which put their clients' content on
the internet. Of course, downloading content put on the internet by the
rightsholder is legal, but if they take you to court, you have to proof,
that they uploaded it. And this modi operandi is not widely known, so an
average lawyer or judge will not consider this.
Afair there was even a company, which put content without the
rightsholders consent on the internet and tried to sue people for
downloading it.

if people don't pay, only a very little number of cases go to court. but
in a court case those companies problably win, by providing "evidence"
recorded by their secret p2p-observer software.

Greetings,
Markus Drenger


right holders can send you a warning letter for infriging their copyright.

Am 09.03.12 22:09, schrieb Richard Stallman:
> I'm told there are companies that set traps for P2P sharers in Germany,
> and then send threatening letters saying they will sue if the victims
> don't immediately pay 1000 euros.
>
> Does anyone here know anything about this?  For instance, can
> those companies really win if they sue?
>
> --
> Dr Richard Stallman
> President, Free Software Foundation
> 51 Franklin St
> Boston MA 02110
> USA
> www.fsf.org  www.gnu.org
> Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software.
>   Use free telephony http://directory.fsf.org/category/tel/
>
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