Features Podcasts Family Video Comics Music Tech Science Books Film & TV Games ✚

Jill

40,000 P2P lawsuits dismissed - bad week for copyright trolls

Cory Doctorow at 3:15 am Fri, Feb 25, 2011

— FEATURED —

Book Review

Black Code: how spies, cops and crims are making cyberspace unfit for human habitation

Book Review

We Can Fix it! - a graphic novel time travel memoir

Science

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

— FOLLOW US —

Boing Boing is on Twitter and Facebook. Subscribe to our RSS feed or daily email.

 

— POLICIES —

Except where indicated, Boing Boing is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution

 

— FONTS —

Tweet
Kindle

Judges in California, Washington DC, Texas, and West Virginia have severed P2P lawsuits against unnamed John Does, effectively dismissing the cases against 40,000 American Internet users. Some users are still getting notices from their ISPs, though, and EFF has a spreadsheet you can consult if you've gotten a notice (spread the word!).
The plaintiffs in these cases must now re-file against almost all of the Does individually rather than suing them en masse. These rulings may have a significant impact on the copyright trolls' business model, which relies on being able to sue thousands of Does at once with a minimum of administrative expense. The cost of filing suit against each Doe may prove prohibitively expensive to plaintiffs' attorneys who are primarily interested in extracting quick, low-hassle settlements.
Over 40,000 Does Dismissed In Copyright Troll Cases
 
  • Judge to copyright troll: get lost - Boing Boing
  • Court to UK copyright troll ACS:Law: you can't drop your cases ...
  • Another copyright troll throws in the towel - Boing Boing
  • Spanish author mocks Latin pop star copyright troll to benefit ...
  • Spanish Author Smashes Copyright Troll Mockery - Boing Boing
  • The $105 Fix That Could Protect You From Copyright-Troll Lawsuits ...

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE:  Action • Business • Technology

More at Boing Boing

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Hackers prepare for first "national holiday" in their honor

  • querent

    Right on. Anytime someone’s “business model” involves court time, the courts should not look favorably upon.

    I keep getting threatening emails from comcast about alleged copyright violations. I’m not paying them so I can be spied on and threatened. I’ll be taking my business elsewhere.

  • Anonymous

    “extracting quick, low-hassle settlements”? Some lawyers are just disgusting people.

  • jungletek

    Seriously, no comments?

    Hooray for sanity. Suing someone should require some slight hoop jumping and a little bit of effort.