Is anyone on here a solicitor or has good legal knowledge? I am looking for some quick legal advice.

What's your query?

Some info would get you a quicker answer.

I've watched a few dramas with court scenes in. Tell me your issue?

Octopus love? 😯

I am a barrack room lawyer – will that do?

It's regarding copyright infringement. Basically a case of being fined/threatened with court action by the authors of a song that was downloaded in the past from a program called bittorrent.

I am looking for some quick legal advice.

A proper solicitor won't give you 'free advise' over the internet/phone.

They are right heartless bashturds.

Don't worry you get Internet access in prison.

I think that's pretty specialist for a lawyer.

Isn't it clearly unlawful though? Just say you won't do it again.

*is glad he does not download illegally*

EDIT : do you have any defence?

How do they know you had an illegal download? What did you do with the tune?

IIRC people have been prosecuted for uploading but not for downloading

Oh yes they have TJ

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8441306.stm

http://m.digitaljournal.com/article/274415

I reckon you might need a good lawyer to beat the riaa lawyers.

Best if luck.

That's in the US Drac.. although we do actually have stricter copyright laws than over there as we have no such thing as fair use over here. In fact I believe it's technically illegal to make copies of any of the music you own, even to stick on an MP3 player… but on the whole I think everyone agrees it's a pretty silly bit of law now…

Anyway, I'd not heard of any new cases come up for this recently, and the latest I had heard was that the BPI might be sending out warning letters towards the end of this year…

So, I am guessing this is an individual artist suing over a downloaded track?

I think they have to prove it was you first.

First question:

How do they know it was you and not someone else on your computer?

How do they know it wasn't someone jacking in on your insecure WiFi?

Could have been an anonymous kid, couldn't it.

Presumably your computer is totally clean of anything suspect by now? I'm sure one of the PC tech crowd will tell you how to do a secure delete.

Which? have produced something which may be able to help… see

http://www.which.co.uk/advice/what-to-do-if-youre-accused-of-file-sharing/index.jsp

…

Don't matter where it is the record industries are hunting down some downloaders. The oh i must have had my wifi hacked won't wash either. Your responsible for looking after it.

Right on PC now s easier.

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article3353387.ece

Article there, I'd be checking to make sure this is genuine and not a scam too.

As I understand it the RIAA has no recourse to do anything in this country, or any other except the US, so they could possibly sue someone from the UK in the US courts, but that seems a little extreme… not that they probably haven't thought about it! But although they might technically win, they'd never get anything out of it unless the person sued decided to go to the US for some reason…

In this country it's up to the BPI to do the same job as the RIAA, and so far, the BPI have been an awful lot less trigger-happy about this.

Drac… that's the Digital Economy Act, or whatever it's called these days… the last government got it passed in the last few days before they broke up for the election, so it's not law yet!

Anyway, the plans for that are a 3 strikes and you are out system, where you initially receive a letter warning you to stop, then another, and on the third strike you can get kicked off the internet. However, it's looking like some of that could be in trouble due to the Human Rights Act of all things… as I believe that it's now been decided in Europe that internet access is a human right in a modern society, or something like that. But who knows where that will all end up!

Yup couldn't find anymore funnynick but thanks for reminding me what happened. Doesn't mean that the BPI or whatever is is here haven't decided to sue. I'd thought his ISP may have said something not unless he's changed or they didn't see the need.

Still I'd look at the scam thing serious as just an email or letter from them demanding seems ominous.

At present I believe the BPI are holding off, and if it is them I'd expect this to be all over the various techie news sites by now, and you are right, if it had been the BPI they would have gone through the ISP etc…

My guess, as I said above, is that it is an artist suing directly through a law firm. This has happened a number of times in the UK, but I'd not heard of anything for a while… the last big one was over a computer game I seem to recall…

But you are right, it could well be a well directed scam…

Check out the following for help.

http://www.yourrights.org.uk/

http://www.yourrights.org.uk/yourrights/the-rights-of-defendants/index.html

If you need free legal representation, contact the Community Legal Service helpline on 0845 608 1122 – they will recommend solicitors who can help in your area.

Also consider contacting the Law Centres Federation on 0207 4284400, info@lawcentres.org.uk, or http://www.lawcentres.org.uk, to find a centre near you.

If you live in London, another organisation that might be able to help is the Mary Ward Legal Centre, who give advice and free information sessions. Their telephone number is 0207 831 7079, or http://www.marywardlegal.org.uk.

These telephone numbers are the ones on my records, but they might have changed since. Google to be sure.

The file was downloaded, but since then we removed the file and programs and we now purchases music through itunes, so we realised the wrongs before receiving the letter. It seems wrong that the author of the song is claiming £300 is a fair compromise package before going to court?!

I'm annoyed about the fact that this is an individual (comprising of three authors) who are claiming. This could happen again with a different party, surely a warning letter would be the best action? Why are they not undertaking action against the provider of the package e.g. bittorrent?

I'm looking for a quick response of how best to deal with the case not someone spending hours helping me!!!

The documentation is from a firm called ACS:LAW and have contacted the service provider for IP addresses. All looks genuine.

Well, firstly Bittorrent is only a protocol which allows P2P filesharing, and is perfectly legal as demonstrated by the government currently using it to distribute files.

If the software was then used for performing copyright infringement, that is not the fault of the software authors, unless it was expressly created and marketed as such. Napster got caught in this one, and got sued by the RIAA in the US and lost… and owed a lot of money.

Think of it this way… a hammer is a perfectly useful tool, but also rather handy for breaking and entering a house! Is that the fault of the hammer maker?

By the sounds of it, if you are stating that you did in fact download the song, then I would imagine that you don't have too many legs to stand on unfortunately, and that it would be cheaper to pay up than try to fight it in court.

And yes, it's possible, but unlikely I would imagine, that other artists could seek the same type of redress for downloading their music.

who's the artist? Tell 'em you didn't like the song and you'll give them a fiver.

Ooooh… scrub some of that… have a look at this…

Looks like they try this on with a lot of folks… have a look here as well…

Another good website here…

Some good info coming out of you guys. Keep it coming and much appreciated. 🙂

Its a scam
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/acs-law/198192-acs-law.html

£300 is alittle excessive for one song. Couldn't you write back offering a reasonable but lower sum in mitigation?

Hora, you owe me money, if you do not pay i will take you to court. I want £50 today and then £100 every week for 52 weeks.
If you do not pay me , you could go to prison.

—
Now Hora, do you think you owe me any money? Do you think i could win in court? do you know anything about law?
hora, i'll let you off, you don't owe me money, but if i write serious looking letters to you enough, would that change? no it wouldn't.
would i win in court, no i wouldn't

this whole thing is a scam, ACS:law are trying it on

I'm annoyed about the fact that this is an individual (comprising of three authors) who are claiming. This could happen again with a different party, surely a warning letter would be the best action? Why are they not undertaking action against the provider of the package e.g. bittorrent?

Sorry to hear this, but I have to disagree. Ignorance is not a defence. Taking music without paying for it is theft, and you (should) know it.

Whether this is or isn't a scam, I can't help you. Maybe you could write or phone the artist's record company to find out more info. Saying that you've received the threat and don't know why…

I've also heard of law firms sending out letters in the hope that you pay, if not they aren't really bothered. They are more interested in the commecial theiving for pirate cds and dvds etc.

If you only used the music for personal listening, I'd ignore it. Commercial usage is another thing.

Taking music without paying for it is theft, and you (should) know it.

Technically, I believe that's incorrect, it's breach of copyright no?

Personally, I reckon 1-2% of my CD's are copies, and I've gone on to buy music by a lot of those artists so it works out ok. I do have an issue with people who don't pay for anything, because it results in less quality music for me.

RichPenny – Member

Taking music without paying for it is theft, and you (should) know it.

Technically, I believe that's incorrect, it's breach of copyright no?

But you knew what I meant though, no???

Personally, I reckon 1-2% of my CD's are copies, and I've gone on to buy music by a lot of those artists so it works out ok. I do have an issue with people who don't pay for anything, because it results in less quality music for me.

And that should be the artist's choice and not yours. I also think there's too much crap music, so losing a few of the pop groups wouldn't be a problem. I also think that the quantity of quality music will not be affected.

The quantity of quality music is affected because it simply isn't possible for lots of people to make enough money from music to dedicate themselves properly.

I think the artist would choose that I had one copy and then bought something else, rather than buying none of their music. Occasionally I'll copy something to introduce someone to new music, in the hope that they'll like it and buy more music.

And yes, I was being a bit pedantic 😉

RichPenny – Member

The quantity of quality music is affected because it simply isn't possible for lots of people to make enough money from music to dedicate themselves properly.

I think the artist would choose that I had one copy and then bought something else, rather than buying none of their music. Occasionally I'll copy something to introduce someone to new music, in the hope that they'll like it and buy more music.

I possibly agree with the first point, but it is too easy to release a record and everyone thinks it's an easy way to make a few quid. The dedicated artist will still make music but not get it to a wider audience, so the quality music will still be there, you simply won't know about it. IMO the most interested parties in the equation are the distributors and record companies.

I agree that the internet is an excellent way for new artists to introduce their music to a wider audience for free, and for me is the future for the music industry or at least the development for new artists. The quality acts will survive and the dross will sink. I think there are plenty examples of acts who make music for the sake of making music and not in the pursuit of millions, The Fall may fall into this category. But it is the artist's choice and not yours regarding what happens to the music.

I get fed up of people taking my photos, using them on their web page or blog, mentioning my name and expecting that I'm satisfied with the free publicity!!!

And yes, I was being a bit pedantic

Good job I'm not… 😉

Counter sue for breach of privacy by ACS law? The Register has covered this in the past but the legal interpretation may have changed since then.

The Fall are possibly not the best example, as I imagine they are making a living from music. Therefore they are able to dedicate themselves to it, rather than working an 8 hour day and then getting a few hours to work on their songs. It has become more difficult to make money from music and that's a shame because it can and does hold people back. I do like the transfer of power from distro/labels (and my company runs a label!) but it isn't entirely positive.

I can see why you don't like people using your work for their own purposes, but I equate introducing people to new music as free publicity for the band. I don't gain anything from it, unlike people using your photos.

The quantity of quality music is affected because it simply isn't possible for lots of people to make enough money from music to dedicate themselves properly.

1) who cares about the quantity it's the quality that counts
2) a real musician will play whether they get paid or not, it's the music that's important