Have you received a letter from Davenport Lyons or ACS?

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Tapps

Why do you think I'm a plant? Just because it is my first post?

This is going to financially ruin a very good friend of mine. It isn't in the media yet because although the judge has ruled against him, there will be a damages hearing shortly. Does anyone want to offer any actual help?

On what grounds did the judge rule against this friend of yours?

Can't find anything, Is there a public directory of judgements? Be interesting to see how they ruled.

[Tapps]

He had written to Davenport Lyons a few times but had to leave the country due to an emergency for a short while. Davenport Lyons issued proceedings and got a default judgement. My friend then applied with his solicitors to have the default judgement set aside saying that he had a reasonable prospect of winning and gave his reasons why but was unsuccessful.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Tapps

He had written to Davenport Lyons a few times but had to leave the country due to an emergency for a short while. Davenport Lyons issued proceedings and got a default judgement. My friend then applied with his solicitors to have the default judgement set aside saying that he had a reasonable prospect of winning and gave his reasons why but was unsuccessful.

Riiight, now that's a little different from what you said in the first place.

So what actually happened was (for whatever reason) he didn't attend court and the judge ruled in favour if DL?

[Tapps]

Basically yes, because he had changed address so didn't know about the court date. He had been in correspondence with them throughout. The hearing was to decide if he would have a chance of success at trial but the judge ruled against him. He has been told he could not appeal the decision.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Tapps

Basically yes, because he had changed address so didn't know about the court date. He had been in correspondence with them throughout. The hearing was to decide if he would have a chance of success at trial but the judge ruled against him. He has been told he could not appeal the decision.

OK so the messsage is still for anyone who gets such a letter to challenge DL to produce their evidence as it's clear should it get to court and both parties attend, DL will lose miserably.

[Tezcatlipoca]

For anyone new to the thread, these may be interesting...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/...tening_le.html

http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-b...-peers-081020/

http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-...o-porn-081118/ [WARNING: contains some bad language within the story due to the names of the files]


Michael Coyle at Lawdit Soliciters has been representing some of DL's vict...defendants. For free. Lots of info here:

http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room...fringement.htm

http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room...on-the-act.htm

http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room...le-sharing.htm

http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room...of-the-end.htm

[Luquitas10]

Originally Posted by Russ B

OK so the messsage is still for anyone who gets such a letter to challenge DL to produce their evidence as it's clear should it get to court and both parties attend, DL will lose miserably.

Guys, after reading this I'm a bit worried. I'll be leaving UK, maybe forever, in a couple of months, so I might be in the same situation than Tapps' friend.
I don't wanna have any hadeache in the future, so it seems my only option is to pay. Apart from the money they are asking for, which I think is a scam whether guilty or not, they also asks me to sign a form confessing something I didn't do it. What do you recommend???

[cook1984]

Originally Posted by scantheman

It was not me who downloaded the game it was my 13 year old son....i don't ever even play games.

I wouldn't pay. You did not infringe their copyright, for 13 year old son did. If they want to take legal action against him, that's up to them, but somehow I doubt his paper round will cover their costs. Not to mention the brilliant PR it would generate.

---------- Post added at 19:25 ---------- Previous post was at 19:22 ----------

Originally Posted by Tapps

I am doing some research for a friend and came across this forum. One of my friends was taken to court a 3 weeks ago and lost. He hired a lawyer who were quite confident they were going to win and tried to get Davenport Lyons to drop the case by making offers outside of court. The offers were like you pay everything to date and drop the case and our client will be happy, but Davenport Lyons rejected all of this. At the hearing the judge ruled against my friend and his expected costs are expected to be in the region of £8000. Now the solicitors say they can't do anything about it and say they can not help.

Has anyone else experienced this?

He lost because he admitted he downloaded whatever it was. By offering to settle out of court, he admitted it.

The important thing to remember is that Davenport Lyons have absolutely no evidence what so ever that you infringed any copyrights.

They have an IP address and a screenshot. That does not identify you. It up to them to prove that it was you personally uploading the file to them. They cannot do this, there is simply no way, technical or otherwise.

Just tell them firmly that you did not do it and that will be the end of that. I have had three of these letters now, one via Zen many years ago for Borland and two from Davenport Lyons. I managed to take DL to Small Claims Court and win over the last one, but they have not paid up yet.

[Tapps]

Does anyone have any actual advice for my friend?

The judge would not set aside the default judgement and now he's being stung for 8k+. Lawdit is not free by the way and they were the guys my friend used.

[cook1984]

Originally Posted by Tapps

Does anyone have any actual advice for my friend?

The judge would not set aside the default judgement and now he's being stung for 8k+. Lawdit is not free by the way and they were the guys my friend used.

It sounds like there must be something you are not telling us. If your friend was out of the country then he has clear grounds for an appeal.

If the judge ruled that there was no reasonable chance of him winning a court case, then either the judge is at fault for not understanding the evidence or your friend's lawyers didn't do a very good job.

The only other thing I can think of is that he somehow admitted he did upload the file. In that case he is stuffed.

[photodude]

Originally Posted by Tapps

Does anyone have any actual advice for my friend?

The judge would not set aside the default judgement and now he's being stung for 8k+. Lawdit is not free by the way and they were the guys my friend used.

Think we need a case ref, or at least a court and date in order to substantiate this. All sounds rather odd to me

[rogerdraig]

hmm last time DL won a case ( person didn't turn up to defend themselves ) DL had the judgement on the news channels with in the hour and letters going out to others to show that they could win

i can find nothing about a new win , only stories about ATARI droping them and about thier new tactic of claiming you have downloaded some hard core gay porn film in the hope seemingly that people wont want to go to court about that !

see

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11...venport_lyons/

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by Luquitas10

Guys, after reading this I'm a bit worried. I'll be leaving UK, maybe forever, in a couple of months, so I might be in the same situation than Tapps' friend.
I don't wanna have any hadeache in the future, so it seems my only option is to pay. Apart from the money they are asking for, which I think is a scam whether guilty or not, they also asks me to sign a form confessing something I didn't do it. What do you recommend???

Have a read of these...

http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room...le-sharing.htm

http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room...fringement.htm

Originally Posted by Tapps

Does anyone have any actual advice for my friend?

The judge would not set aside the default judgement and now he's being stung for 8k+. Lawdit is not free by the way and they were the guys my friend used.

The Lawdit site clearly still says that they will give free advice over the phone. It also says they will also write a letter of response on your behalf for £50+VAT & deal with further correspondence for you.

Michael Coyle also still says on the Lawdit site "My advice if you have received a letter is to fight it. I will defend your case for free.".

[M2PW]

Originally Posted by Matt D

The Lawdit site clearly still says that they will give free advice over the phone. It also says they will also write a letter of response on your behalf for £50+VAT & deal with further correspondence for you.

Michael Coyle also still says on the Lawdit site "My advice if you have received a letter is to fight it. I will defend your case for free.".

In addition, Mr Coyle @ Lawdit has been contacted by fellow member MEMOR @ the Slyck.com forum, in regards to Tapps' postings.

Initial response was:-

" As for the recent case you refer to I cannot respond due to client confidentiality. However I would say that as a rule of thumb you must not ignore the letters. If court proceedings are issued and there is a significant delay it can be difficult to deal with the claim and overturn what has gone on in the past. "

as per:- http://www.slyck.com/forums/viewtopi...t=2475#p504827

Then later:-

" I should also add this, Please post if you so wish.
“We have not lost a filesharing case as I am not aware of any case that has been ‘won’ by the Claimants’ Solicitors. This means that a case with legal argument from both sides has not been heard in the courts. The cases where the Claimants have ‘won’ concern people ignoring the letters of claim. The courts award Judgment and the Claimant wins. - To overturn this ‘victory’ you have to show:

a) that you have a defence, ie you did not do it, and
b) there has not been too long of a delay.

You will also have to pay the costs of the Claimants’ obtaining Judgement which will be a few hundred pounds- unless you can show it was sent to the wrong address and you did not know about the Judgment at any stage. The longer you leave the Judgment the more difficult it is to overturn the court’s decision. So ignore at your peril ! "

as per:- http://www.slyck.com/forums/viewtopi...t=2475#p504861

Hmmm - The plot thickens

M2PW