Davenport Lyons wins 16,000 pound verdict in pinball lawsuit

Posted by Dan on August 21, 2008

Davenport Lyons, who we mentioned in our last post, recently won a 16,000 pound verdict against a woman for uploading a pinball game to P2P file sharing progams.

According to a partner at the firm says “Illegal file-sharing is a very serious issue resulting in millions of pounds of losses to copyright owners. As downloading speeds and Internet penetration increase, this continues to be a worldwide problem across the media industry which increasingly relies on digital revenues.”

“The damages and costs ordered by the Court are significant and should act as a deterrent. This shows that taking direct steps against infringers is an important and effective weapon in the battle against online piracy.”

The firm’s press release further states:

Several thousand names and addresses have already been ordered by the High Court of London to be released by the ISPs concerned.  Another application is set to be issued at court in relation to a further 7,000 IP addresses.

The evidence supporting the disclosure applications and subsequent proceedings is obtained by forensic computer experts Logistep AG, based in Switzerland, who have developed software programs to search for and accurately identify the IP addresses used to upload the copyright owners’ work.

Logistep was noted by P2PNet earlier this year as having legal troubles related to similar claims:

Interestingly, Elizabeth Martin, a lawyer hired by Swiss anti-piracy outfit Logistep, was later banned by the Paris Bar Council for six months for mailing “hundreds of thousands of threatening letters demanding that alleged file-sharers pay 400 euros (about $630),” p2pnet said in another story, going on she was also barred from the National Council of the Bars (CNB) and other professional associations for 10 years.

Now doesn’t that sound familiar?

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