ACS:Law copyright file sharing claims, Gallant Macmillan - and probably some others along the way...

[johnsmith999]

YOU MUST SEND A LETTER OF DENIAL

 

If you dont then he can apply to the judge saying that "despite his letters you have ignored him and his only course of action is court".

 

HE WILL WIN AS YOU WONT BE IN COURT. The first you will know is when a fully signed "COURT ORDER" FROM THE COURT with the full backing of the law lands on your doorstep. At this time it is too late and you must pay regardless of whether you did it or not, and whatever the fine is.

 

If you have sent back a LOD then he is unable to use these tactics, as you will have complied with the PRE ACTION PROTOCOL.

 

He will not take anyone to court unless he is convinced he can win, after all if he were to lose, then the whole gravy train would stop. He will only take an uncontested case if he is sure it will be uncontested,

If their is noone there to argue against him, then he can just ask for a default ruling

 

 

As stated You MUST REPLY TO HIS LETTERS WITH A Letter of Denial.

 

DO NOT IGNORE IT

[tp123]

Very true..... i think they will still send the threatening letters even if you dont reply. Not stating a simple letter of defence will allow them to joy ride to the letter of court summonings no doubt. As if they feel you are ignoring the letters, there is a high chance you'd ignore the summon and then they'd win a no show at court. better cheap stats for them.

 

but thats me just being paranoid haha

 

That not being paranoid, it's exactly how it works.

 

@ryedonny,

 

Check out the Code of Conduct for Pre-action Protocol in Interlectual Property Rights Disputes. In a nut shell, it provides guidelines on how the claiment should write their letter of claim and how a defendant should respond - basically with a letter accepting or denying the claim.

 

Then, once you have responded, as you said - stop panicking.

 

johnsmith999 explains it well on the previous page

Edited July 16, 2010 by tp123
johnsmith999 had already answered while I was typing!

[kilotango22]

I've had one of these letters. My LOD is ready to post off.

 

I have complained to SRA and will be recieving some paperwork from them, they certainly knew all about this.

 

I have just read the code of for Pre-Action conduct which is now available on ACS website.

 

It states:

 

3.2 The letter of claim should:

(a) state that the letter follows this Code and that the defendant should

also do so;

(b) unless the letter is being sent to the legal advisors of the defendant,

enclose a copy of this Code;

© identify the claimant;

(d) list the remedies that the claimant seeks;

(e) give details of any funding arrangements entered into.

 

Well.. He certainly didn't comply with the code himself, it clearly states in section (b) he has to include a copy of this code, it does not say he has to make it available to read on his website.

 

ACS law failed to include a copy of the code so surely their failure means they have not complied with Pre-Action Conduct.

 

The letter of claim has a page on it stating what is included with the letter and this code is not shown as being included.

 

For the record I didn't take part in or authorise anyone else to infringe anything and certainly will not pay his blackmail money.

[Mattyhatty]

A good find regarding pre action conduct, it really helps suggest my part in it as much as theirs.

 

Regarding defence, would it be silly to use defensive evidence regarding medical Private and Confidential information? Ignoring the fact that it would get into the wrong hands....

 

As defence for this whole dispute is a sketchy one, its hard to know what to use or say apart from ' Not Guilty '

[kilotango22]

I wouldn't provide any evidence. In fact from what I have read on here proving anything is virtually impossible one way or another. They have to prove you did it.

 

When they claim to follow pre-action protocol and you can show they have failed to do so that can only be a good thing.

 

I'd love to go to court and just provide his letter of claim to a judge with a copy of the code and hopefully that would put an end to his silly scheme.

[johnsmith999]

As defence for this whole dispute is a sketchy one, its hard to know what to use or say apart from ' Not Guilty '

 

 

That is exactly all you should say, by saying any more you are feeding him information he can use against you. You do not need to explain why you cannot have done it. it is up to him to PROOVE that you did. As one of the Lords in the house of lords said "You cannot proove you did not do it" as it is "impossible to prove a Negative"

Edited July 16, 2010 by johnsmith999

[cmg2312]

Ok I have sent of my 1st lod but now I am wondering I am moving again in a month and they probably wont get back to me by then does that mean if i dont get the next million letters they send me and reply with a lod for all of them they can get me for it?? And also they are not sending these letters registered post so how can they prove that ppl are actually getting them surely they cant just got to court and get u if u dont reply to every stupid letter??

[johnsmith999]

Nope, As long as you reply with one you dont need to get into "Letter Ping Pong", One letter of denial is enough to comply the the "PRe action protocol"

Regarding not sending recorded or registered, according to the Post office !st class and 2nd class post are "as good as garenteed" they lose so few letters as to be guarenteed.

[ryedonny]

YOU MUST SEND A LETTER OF DENIAL

 

If you dont then he can apply to the judge saying that "despite his letters you have ignored him and his only course of action is court".

 

HE WILL WIN AS YOU WONT BE IN COURT. The first you will know is when a fully signed "COURT ORDER" FROM THE COURT with the full backing of the law lands on your doorstep. At this time it is too late and you must pay regardless of whether you did it or not, and whatever the fine is.

 

If you have sent back a LOD then he is unable to use these tactics, as you will have complied with the PRE ACTION PROTOCOL.

 

He will not take anyone to court unless he is convinced he can win, after all if he were to lose, then the whole gravy train would stop. He will only take an uncontested case if he is sure it will be uncontested,

If their is noone there to argue against him, then he can just ask for a default ruling

 

 

As stated You MUST REPLY TO HIS LETTERS WITH A Letter of Denial.

 

DO NOT IGNORE IT

 

 

Ok got you. Is the sample letter of denial on page 154 any good? And would you need proof of postage as they good just say they never received anything?

[kilotango22]

I've used a template letter, so long as you sign it its legal, if he doesn't like it he can suck my thumb!

[johnsmith999]

Yes the template letter is what i sent, however some people say you should write your own. I dont know enough about the law to do that, so i used the template. He will probably write back saying "he does not accept your template letter", however he will use a template letter to do this, so as you say HE can suck my Thumb. I would always send the letter by recorded delivery so that he must sign for it, then he cant claim later that he didnt receive it.

[kilotango22]

Yes I am expecting the same from what I have read on here, my 2nd LOD would simply refer him to the 1st. If I hear from him again after that I would contact the police. If I were to do what he is doing I would probably be visited for demanding money with menaces. ACS Law have no proof if you read between the lines of their letters they are basically saying give us some money and we will go away.

[sillygirl1]

You do have to laugh at them 'not accepting templated letters' when that is what they send out. Luckily I haven't had a run in with anyone over dowloading stuff - its something I do very rarely.

 

This is something of a grey area, such as the retail loss prevention letters, they think they have something on you and you have to prove they haven't... not fair...

[kilotango22]

Yes the irony of it:

 

They don't accept template letters but they send them out by the 1000

 

They claim to follow the the Code of practice for Pre-Action conduct and yet by failing to provide a copy of said code. (b) unless the letter is being sent to the legal advisors of the defendant,

enclose a copy of this Code; They have actually failed to follow the code because they didn't send me a copy.

 

Very dodgy indeed.

[Mattyhatty]

If they want to go down retail loss prevention - something i think the letter of allegation is referring too ( didnt read the letter of the accused that thoroughly but will now knowing a lot more ) i just googled it and the song is FREE on Spotify and available on YOUTUBE before the accused date of offence. Where does loss come into something that is free?

 

i hate this. but atleast in a months time i will know about piracy - civil law suits - p2p - torrents - protocol and how to not trust fat cats with dirty paws

[londonukguy]

just got off the phone with o2broadband again and they say they DO NOT have any information about any court order requesting my information.

 

something is very dodgy, the ACS letter also state my ISP be be unlimited.

 

does anyone think they can obtain my details illegally?

[kilotango22]

No, they can only get your details through a court order.

 

Did they send you a copy of the 'CODE OF PRACTICE FOR PRE-ACTION CONDUCT IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTES'.

 

They say they comply with that code.

 

Section 3.2(b) states: unless the letter is being sent to the legal advisors of the defendant, enclose a copy of this Code;

 

Its around 24 pages long, my wife printed it off the web for me, they certainly didn't send me a copy so they haven't complied in my case. Their own paperwork confirms they didn't send me it either, they enclose a list of items they have enclosed. My guess is due to the shere size of it they have not sent a copy to anyone as it would add a large amount to their postage costs and I suspect they are hoping our ignorance of the law would allow them to get away with it.

[londonukguy]

No, they can only get your details through a court order.

 

Did they send you a copy of the 'CODE OF PRACTICE FOR PRE-ACTION CONDUCT IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTES'.

 

They say they comply with that code.

 

Section 3.2(b) states: unless the letter is being sent to the legal advisors of the defendant, enclose a copy of this Code;

 

Its around 24 pages long, my wife printed it off the web for me, they certainly didn't send me a copy so they haven't complied in my case. Their own paperwork confirms they didn't send me it either, they enclose a list of items they have enclosed. My guess is due to the shere size of it they have not sent a copy to anyone as it would add a large amount to their postage costs and I suspect they are hoping our ignorance of the law would allow them to get away with it.

 

i did a copy of

CODE OF PRACTICE FOR PRE-ACTION CONDUCT IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTES'.

Edited July 16, 2010 by londonukguy

[Guest rayray21]

how do they got your house address to send you the letter if isp's dont give out information ? yes i also got the letter ,so is best thing to do send a lod recorded and then ignore ? thanks for the msg's people iv been reading alot of them and feel alot better now

[STC12]

they got your address from your ISP, legally via a court order. Send the LOD recorded delivery - cheaper and just as good !

[floppydog]

Please remember there are many companies out there who supply BT, Sky etc with access to the internet. It's like network rail owns the railways but many companies use them. With regards to them getting your details it would be whatever company was supplying these companies at the time would be asked for your details. e.g. Sky may be your ISP but the access they use could belong to Easynet or any other supplier of internet access.

[8of9]

Posted on Slyck

 

Food for thought:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malicious_

... s_Act_1988

 

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/pd%20...%20027_en.pdf

Seems pretty black and white to me. Andrew Crossley has always stated that the letters sent by his firm are not demands, but enquiries. It would rather seem to me that's he's broken the law.

 

As an aside, that must be about the shortest Act of Law I've ever seen. Two sides of A4?

 

factual

Posts: 61

Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:13 pm

If it could be proven that the information collected by the monitoring software was not reliable and AC knew this then would he be in breach of 1(a)(iii)? If so, could all the letters he has sent be considered malicious and is the possibility of thousands of counter claims on this basis a reasonable assumption?

 

Food for thought indeed!

[unclebulgaria67]

I cannot believe that this thread is still going on.

 

The letters received are purely speculative invoices !!!

 

Has anyone actually been taken to court ?

 

Has anyone started legal proceeding against ACS:Law?

 

Is there any ongoing complaint with the SRA about this issue?

 

Perhaps someone would add a post to confirm the exact current position on this subject; as there are a lot of confusing posts, which while interesting, would not inform someone what they needed to do upon receiving a letter from ACS:Law.

 

As I write this, there are over 40 people reading this thread, so obviously still a hot topic.

[car2403]

I cannot believe that this thread is still going on.

 

The letters received are purely speculative invoices !!!

 

Has anyone actually been taken to court ?

 

Has anyone started legal proceeding against ACS:Law?

 

Is there any ongoing complaint with the SRA about this issue?

 

Perhaps someone would add a post to confirm the exact current position on this subject; as there are a lot of confusing posts, which while interesting, would not inform someone what they needed to do upon receiving a letter from ACS:Law.

 

As I write this, there are over 40 people reading this thread, so obviously still a hot topic.

 

I posted this in September of last year - not much has changed;

 

Do not phone them.

 

There is a template letter of denial in this thread - it is in your interests to read the whole lot, as lots of questions have been asked and answered already.

 

In short;

 

- they have no claim against you, so you have no legal obligation to pay them

- some believe these are fishing attempts, let others pay as you don't need to

- you should send a letter of denial, then ignore any further letters unless they take Court action

- they have NOT taken action against anyone on this thread, AFAIK (EDIT: There are some saying the claims have been issued, but are not coming back with their own threads, or more information on this thread - this leads me to believe that those posts are NOT genuine)

- Complain to everyone you can think of; Trading Standards, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, your Local MP... the more people at the party, the better for you

 

Any other concerns you may have will have already been dealt with on this thread

[Ozzy MOS]

Have recieved advice from my solicitor to settle with them, it's not sitting right with me tho :-|