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

[Amelia Andersdotter]

One thought:

When looking at patent claims directed at small free software projects, 
I noticed often the claims are written in such a way that it's very 
difficult from form and text to determine whether the claim is 
legitimate or not (for example, they don't write out in which 
jurisdiction an infringement is assumed to have been made, which means 
the accused does not know where to turn in the event that he or she 
wants to defend herself).

Apparently this is a flaw mostly in the European infringement system, 
since the DMCA in the US puts strict demands on form and shape of a 
claim - it increases the legal certainty for the recipient since they 
will always know where to turn if they receive a claim.

Since I'm not sure of the DMCA form rules, could anyone else maybe 
share? I have a feeling that a good form demand would be to always 
include a third party institution (not claimant nor defendent) to which 
the recipient of the claim (defendant) could turn and investigate the 
legitimacy of the claim (that is, whether or not it is of legitimate 
origins, not whether or not the recipient should be troubled by their 
potential guilt to the accusation or not). Such a legitimacy check would 
reduce collateral damage from these systems.

Pe 10.03.2012 00:09, Rok Andrée a scris:
> This practice was pretty popular a while back in england and torrent 
> freak reported on it a lot.
>
> I thought it was all done with? They are still doing this?
>
> Lp
> Rok Andrée
> Piratska stranka Slovenije - Slovenian Pirate Party
>
>
>
> On 9 March 2012 22:49, Markus Drenger 
> <markus.drenger at piratenpartei-hessen.de 
> <mailto:markus.drenger at piratenpartei-hessen.de>> wrote:
>
>     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 100EUR.
>     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 <http://www.fsf.org> www.gnu.org <http://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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>     >
>
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>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________
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