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[Thad]

...so have you guys been paying attention to the Prenda Law case?  Because it's pretty amazing.

Prenda Law is one of those copyright trolls that sends people threatening letters alleging that they've illegally downloaded porn.  The idea is that people would rather pay a settlement than be a named defendant associated with downloading porn.

It's extortion.  Which is bad, and was bound to catch up with Prenda sooner or later.

But that's actually the tip of the iceberg.  Popehat has an exhaustive rundown, but the highlights are that Prenda Law is most likely run by people who own the rights to the porn videos in question and who have not disclosed that interest, and also they appear to have stolen a guy's identity and named him as their CEO.  (He's suing them.)  The lawyer who's been representing them in court appears to be distancing himself from the organization now and blaming his bosses for everything; the judge seems righteously pissed and has dropped the word "incarceration" into his list of potential sanctions.

A followup post indicates that the company's entire business strategy appears to be to buy up cheap rights to porn movies that are cheap because they're frequently pirated, and then pursue pirates, ostensibly to reduce piracy and increase the value of their investments.

I am very much looking forward to seeing this organization dismembered and its corpse hung out as warning for all the other copyright trolls and would-be copyright trolls to see.  Some prison time for the principals would be a bonus.

[Thad]

Popehat's report on yesterday's Prenda Law hearing is delightful and amply demonstrates why Ken is a great damn writer and you should be reading Popehat.

[Mongrel]

Popehat's report on yesterday's Prenda Law hearing is delightful and amply demonstrates why Ken is a great damn writer and you should be reading Popehat.

This really is just too good. Loved when it turned out that even the random laywer in the crowd had information to throw on the bonfire.

[Thad]

I'm just astounded by the combination of stupidity and balls involved in this scam.  I mean, at least people who run Ponzi schemes put some EFFORT into appearing legitimate.

I understand the greed part.  I just don't understand how they thought they could get away with it.  Like I said earlier, if all they'd done was shake people down for blackmail money they could have gotten away with just having their business shut down; it's the layers of incompetent and half-assed fraud that are really breathtaking and liable to lead to disbarment and possible incarceration.

[Thad]

Prenda is done.

Technically it still exists, but every single rep took the Fifth when called on to explain its actions. Whatever litigation it hasn't already dropped is going to be thrown out and it'll never bring a successful suit again.

And we're not even to the part where the judge recommends sanctions yet.

[Thad]

Prenda gets a pants-down spankin':

This order is catastrophic to Prenda and its attorneys. It will be filed in every case in which they are fighting sanctions across the nation, and cannot help but have a galvanizing effect on those proceedings. The U.S. Attorney's Office will very likely launch a grand jury investigation, and the IRS CID will assist. Federal grand jury investigations are very slow, but represent experienced practitioners bringing almost unlimited resources to bear against their targets. State bars and federal bars will launch their own investigations. Prenda Law's principals will face dangerous, expensive, relentless attacks from all sides, and it is entirely possible they will face criminal charges if the feds agree with Judge Wright's conclusions.

[Mongrel]

Every time I think that story can't get any better... DAT JUDGE

[Thad]

All the best decisions have Star Trek references.

[Thad]

Latest allegations: the calls were coming from inside the house.  Prenda was seeding the films THEMSELVES.

Which of course begs the question, is it piracy if the file is intentionally uploaded to Pirate Bay by the rightsholder?

Or, phrased more aggressively: is it fraud if the rightsholder intentionally uploads the file to Pirate Bay and then threatens to sue people for downloading it?

[Friday]

wow

Every time I read this thread my brain goes "oh well I guess Prenda is the worst thing possible, they can't get any worse from here"

then I read the next post

at this point would not even be remotely surprised if you post about how Prenda was also putting mind control chemicals in the water that can only be activated in the air by a microwave cannon that force you to download shitty porn owned by them

[Cait]

Comcast apparently confirms the torrents originated from within Prenda.

[hunter08]

interesting

[Disposable Ninja]

INDEED

[Mongrel]

:monocle:

[Mazian]

You know, we haven't seen a nice long Prenda post in a while.  Let's fix that.

Nothing exceptionally new, but lots of updates about how they're getting savaged in six (!) different federal district courts all at once, complete with loads of court orders filled with straight-faced snark.  Turns out federal judges are really, really good at writing that.

[Mongrel]

At this point, I really am surprised that they haven't tried to flee the country (under assumed names or otherwise), but I suppose there's hubris as mentioned. Also, there's the possibility that they HAVE tried, if that enigmatic comment about Lutz at Miami airport holds any weight.