In the early months of 2010, Golden Eye (International) Ltd, a company connected with the Ben Dover porn brand, decided to chance their hand at obtaining settlements from alleged file-sharers in the UK.

Although they successfully obtained the identities of alleged file-sharers through the court using the Tilly Bailey & Irvine (TBI) law firm, things quickly went wrong for GoldenEye.

TBI pulled out due to bad publicity and the company was eventually fined late 2011 by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority for their mishandling of the cases.

In September 2011, Golden Eye were back again, trying to extract money from Internet users via the previously untested route of the small claims court.

But in December 2011 it all fell apart following proper scrutiny in the High Court.

And now, in March 2012, unbelievably Golden Eye are back again with a third attempt.

http://torrentfreak.com/pay-up-or-else-bittorrent-scheme-resurrected-in-uk-high-court-120309/

Posted this here for info, hopefully it wont take people by suprise like acs law.

I download nothing, but always expect a letter lol

There is an update on this here

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/

Well they will probably get a good spanking because it's being heard by the same Judge that heard the Media CAT cases. http://torrentfreak.com/theyre-back-porn-outfit-sues-uk-citizens-for-illegal-file-sharing-110927/

Personal details of 9,124 O2 internet users accused of illegally downloading pornography are to be handed over to adult entertainment firms Golden Eye International and Ben Dover Productions.

The court, however, quashed his intention to write to each end user demanding a payment of £700 in damages.

 

The judge indicated that bill-payers are not liable for copyright infringement automatically just because their internet connection was used for the download.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2121049/O2-hand-details-users-accused-downloading-porn-films-Ben-Dover-Productions.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17525349

More than 2,000 02 'porn pirates' to be sent letters.

 

More than 2,000 O2 customers will receive letters accusing them of illegally downloading porn films.

 

The firm behind the films - Ben Dover Productions - had originally applied to the high court to pursue 9,000 cases on behalf of a range of copyright owners.

 

The judge threw out all claims apart from those relating to Ben Dover and watered down the wording of letters.

 

Parent company Golden Eye did not rule out the possibility that it would be pursuing other ISPs in the future.

 

To date, it has only requested a court order to pursue alleged copyright infringers on O2's network but this may be extended to other ISPs.

 

"Golden Eye (Int) Ltd continues to monitor all ISP's for our titles and pursue online and physical forms of piracy of our content," managing director Julian Becker told the BBC.

 

Letters seeking recompense for alleged copyright offences will start going out to 2,845 O2 customers in August.

 

The Citizens Advice Bureau has agreed to help those who feel they have been wrongly accused.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18968223

BenD over and Porn films you could'nt make it up if you tried LOL

Copied from Golden Eye's Website...

At the centre of our fight against piracy and the illegal distribution of our copyrights is our bespoke technology

which captures the irrefutable evidence of the perpetrators.

Clem Volger, a Chartered Physicist who is registered as a checked computer expert with the Expert Witness Directory,

has written a detailed report of our software.

Mr Volger work has been commended by Crown Court Judges for his work in providing clear explanations on computer evidence.

His report will be provided to court with other evidence gathered of the perpetrators.

Golden Eye seem to have a certain one track mind because Clem Volger is actually Clem Vogler!

What's more important is that Mr. Vogler's previous clients where he has supplied expert computer reports is...... ACS Law !!!!

Stigman

*Copyright Vultures Circle As Court Green-Lights Anti-Piracy Scheme*

Despite intervention by the Open Rights Group, an adult movie company in the UK has been given the green light to hugely expand its anti-piracy operations in the UK. The Court of Appeal told Golden Eye, a company connected with the Ben Dover porn brand, that it can start sending out thousands of cash demands to individuals suspected of sharing not only their works online, but those that belong to third party righsholders. Already the company has indicated it intends to expand its project.

Refusing to give up after two previous attempts failed, in September 2011 Golden Eye, a company affiliated with the Ben Dover porn brand, renewed its battle to obtain permission to chase down alleged file-sharers in the UK.

The battle was complex, but essentially the company was told by the High Court that it could only pursue sharers of Ben Dover content, not those who were alleged to have shared content owned by third-party companies.

The case went to the Court of Appeal and despite intervention by the Open Rights Group, has now resulted in the best possible outcome for Golden Eye.

The short term implications concern the 9,000 IP addresses currently in Golden Eyes possession. Previously the High Court ordered ISP O2 to hand over the identities of individuals associated with 2,845 of them, account holders whose connections were allegedly used to share Ben Dover movies.

But now, thanks to the Court of Appeal ruling, Golden Eye will now be able to obtain the identities behind another 6,155 IP addresses, those connected to the sharing of content owned by other studios.

�It was both illogical and inconsistent for the judge to deny the self-same relief to the other claimants merely because they have chosen to pursue their claims with the assistance of Golden Eye under arrangements which the judge had previously found to be both lawful and not part of a speculative invoicing scheme, Lord Justice Patten ruled.

The implications of the ruling are serious. Golden Eye can now approach companies that previously havent had the will or means to obtain court orders against individuals they believe to have shared their products online, giving them easy access to a ready-made pay-up-or-else scheme in the UK.

In a nutshell, the Court of Appeal just sanctioned the sending of a tidal wave of settlement letters to UK Internet account holders, the proceeds of which will enrich Golden Eye to the tune of 75% of the takings and rightsholders to 25%.

And according to Golden Eyes Julian Becker, things will kick off quickly. Not only will the letters connected to the first batch of 9,000 IP addresses go out in the New Year, but the company will now work on getting more rightsholders on board.

�I look forward to traveling to adult conferences in Los Angeles and Vegas in early January to offer Golden Eyes services to other producers, he told the BBC.

Individuals who are contacted by Golden Eye should read this article and write to TorrentFreak in complete confidence.

http://torrentfreak.com/copyright-vultures-circle-as-court-green-lights-anti-piracy-scheme-121228/

I wonder what this judgement actually means. Does it mean that they can write to people with an invoice only ? What then follows ? I presume that this latest appeal judgement did not touch on the legal position of downloading/P2P sharing, who is liable and how much they could be liable for. At some point there will have to be more test cases taken on these issues and I cannot see it progressing much further. I thought that in the test cases earlier this years, the judge commented that there is no current law that makes the owner of an IP address legally liable.

Have a read of the Second edition of the 'Speculative Invoicing Handbook' which can be downloaded from the bottom of this page; http://torrentfreak.com/o2-be-customers-all-you-need-to-handle-a-ben-dover-file-sharing-letter-121204/

Interesting indeed!!!!

Now the threats have really started. I'm not the downloader as these people have suggested. but I'm also not 100% how to go about answering either.

If I've got 1 then others will be getting them too.

I will try and find someone who can help, but I think the way in which people were advised to deal with ACS law will probably be the correct way to proceed.

Whilst you are waiting for people to pop in.. put "ACS Law" into the Search engine above, top right hand of the screen and you will see that they were well and truly hammered in court.

These letters are in the exact format to the ones that got ACS:Law shut down and the owner disbarred. Safe to say nothing will come of it, even if it went to court.

Despite High Court Intervention, Copyright Trolls Continue Where ACS:Law Left Off

After the ACS:Law file-sharing debacle sparked massive controversy across the UK it was decided that never again would entertainment companies be allowed to go down the same path. However, despite High Court intervention which placed limits on how alleged copyright infringers could be handled by rightsholders, there are signs that on the ground very little has changed. Pay up – or else.

 

Earlier this year Golden Eye (International), a company affiliated with the Ben Dover porn brand, began a fresh round of “speculative invoicing” in the UK.

 

It would be the first attempt at extracting cash settlements from alleged file-sharers since the ACS:Law fiasco and as such the High Court placed restrictions on how the company could deal with alleged infringers.

 

 

Many of those restrictions relate to the initial letter sent by Golden Eye (GEIL) to Internet account holders. The letter itself had to be approved by the High Court and among other things could not ask individuals for a set amount of money (a figure of £700 was originally attempted by GEIL) until infringement by the individual (and to what degree) had been established.

 

Read more : http://torrentfreak.com/despite-high-court-intervention-copyright-trolls-continue-where-acslaw-left-off-130527/

If you read the article I posted in post # 8 you will see that they have indeed taken up where ACS Law left off.

It is speculative invoicing and I am sure there will be lots of help and advice available.

I've got 28 days to say 'something'.

http://www.slyck.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=45330

There is some information in the link above - this was what people who had been targeted by ACS law were advised to do. Have a read.

Site team have been alerted and I am sure there will be advice given over the weekend.

pes i'd be totally ignoring them.

dx

This maybe of interest for you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Dover#Golden_Eye_.E2.80.93_speculative_invoicing

Ignore it; they aren't going to risk court.

Thank you.

from wiki

In July 2012, the High Court ruled that

Golden Eye would only be granted access to data in relation to Ben Dover Production films,

not the titles by twelve other production companies that Golden Eye were acting on behalf

of (including Terry Stephen's One Eyed Jack Productions

and Justin Ribeiro Dos Santos's Joybear Pictures[74]) and would take 75% of any "damages" paid

, which Mr Justice Arnold stated "would be tantamount to the court sanctioning the sale of the intended defendants’ privacy

and data protection rights to the highest bidder".[75]

This meant that Golden Eye would only be able to target 2,845 of its original target of over 9,000 households.[76]

It was revealed in December 2012 that the IP data supplied to O2 (UK)/Telefónica Europe by Golden Eye,

from 2,850 alleged copyright infringements of Ben Dover Production films could only be matched to less than 1,000 individuals.[77]

I'm accused of a downloading a Harmony film NOT a bend over production. so if Wiki is correct surely they're out of their jurisdiction.

trying to fleece people

dx