Copyright Trolls? Beware of bittorrent defense attorney "settlement factories."

This is going to be an inflammatory post so I'll keep it as short and as friendly as possible.

On many occasions, in my Cashman Law Firm, PLLC law practice, I have written about something called "settlement factories" which are defense attorneys who pre-arrange inflated settlement amounts with plaintiff attorneys who sue John Doe Defendants.

For example, most Strike 3 Holdings LLC attorneys begin their settlement negotiations asking for $750 per title multiplied by how many claims there are against the defendant.

A "settlement factory" attorney will pre-arrange (for example) a $600 per title settlement with the plaintiff attorney (knowing they would hypothetically agree to a significantly lower settlement). However, in the phone call with a prospective client, they will tell the accused downloader that they could settle it for significantly less. They will use accurate numbers when discussing settlements in theory, but then in practice, they end up blaming the downloader for the settlement being as high as their pre-arranged deal "because of their downloading habits."

For the $750 - $1,200 that these attorneys would charge to settle the claims, ALL THEY DO is send a letter to the plaintiff attorney telling them they have a sucker who is ready to settle. No negotiation, no review of the settlement agreement (although they will say they do negotiate the agreement), they simply write an e-mail to the plaintiff attorney asking for a settlement agreement to send to the defendant. I estimate this takes them 30 minutes total for the $1,200 they charge.

How much do "settlement factory" defense attorneys make PER HOUR?

If you calculate their fee, for what appears to be a discount ($750-$1,200 as a flat fee appears to be significantly less than what competing attorneys are charging at $300/hour), you are really paying them $1,000+ PER HOUR which is a scam for the 15-30 minutes of work you received from them.

Certain settlement attorneys have recently raised their prices

These same attorneys have recently increased their fees from $750 to $2,000+ to match the fees that other attorneys are charging to actually negotiate a settlement. Buyer beware -- last week they were charging $750 for the same "service" they are charging you $2,000+ today!

Fake "motion to quash ISP subpoena" packages

I also want to call out these same attorneys for selling what they call a "motion to quash an ISP subpoena package," where they offer to file motions in court to prevent the ISP from handing over the subscribers information to the plaintiff attorney. This too is a scam. A motion to quash attempts to invalidate the subpoena as to that particular defendant because, for example, they do not live in the state in which the lawsuit was filed. The logic is that the court does not have PERSONAL JURISDICTION over that defendant, and thus the subpoena issued for that defendant is invalid.

A motion to quash is not the place to fight your copyright infringement lawsuit

I don't know how to say this more plainly. A MOTION TO QUASH IS NOT THE PLACE AND TIME TO FIGHT THE LAWSUIT. Arguing that the plaintiff attorney and his "copyright troll" client are filing malicious and fraudulent John Doe lawsuits across the US in an elaborate extortion scheme (while likely true) is not relevant to the motion to quash. The end result of filing a motion to quash is that the judge will ask, "Does your client live in our state, yes or no?" This should be the end of the motion to quash topic; if you want more information about it, click here for an article I wrote on the topic.

NEXT SCAM: "Anonymous Settlements."

NEXT -- Selling you on "Anonymous Settlements." Settlement factory defense attorneys will tell you that they can settle the claims against you anonymously. This is simply a farce. Your plaintiff attorneys will learn who you are because the ISPs are under a duty to comply with the subpoena demanding your information, however the issue goes deeper into the scheme causing the movie defense attorney failing to protect his or her client because they expose that client to copyright infringement claims stemming from OTHER IP ADDRESSES which have been assigned to that same defendant (but are otherwise not covered in the "anonymous" settlement agreement).

In many bittorrent-based copyright infringement lawsuits, the defendant is "John Doe subscriber assigned IP address 73.125.31.121" (and not simply "John Doe"). Copyright trolls and their attorneys do this ON PURPOSE, claiming 20-60 instances of infringement, but the John Doe defendant they sue has ONLY ONE IP Address. Settling anonymously covers only THAT ONE IP ADDRESS and not the many IP addresses that accused defendant has used over the past two years in which the plaintiff's so-called "investigators" have been tracking your network. Settling anonymously simply does not protect you against lawsuits or "out of court" demands for payment for downloads that occurred with OTHER IP ADDRESSES you may have used.

Your identity and anonymity can still be protected even when your name is ON the settlement agreement.

I don't need to say this more simply than this. A settlement having your name on the settlement agreement can still keep you anonymous from the world. The reason for this is that every settlement agreement has a confidentiality clause which keeps your information private, and if it does not, (if your attorney were actually negotiating your agreement) your attorney can simply add it in when negotiating the terms of the agreement. The settlement agreement with your name on it is NOT RECORDED on the docket of the court, and when you are dismissed, IT IS YOUR ANONYMOUS JOHN DOE PLACEHOLDER ENTITY WHICH IS DISMISSED FROM THE LAWSUIT.

Settlement Factory Defense Attorney Websites

There is obviously more that I have to say about the settlement factory attorneys, but I believe this is sufficient. I am not tailoring this article with keywords or SEO, nor am I copying this article 20 time changing the name of the STATE for each article so that it gets listed on Google search engines for every state's lawsuits.

OUR LAW FIRM'S WEBSITE

I hope you see that the content of this article (just like the content on each of my TorrentLawyer.com articles) are ORIGINAL, and they are meant to INFORM, NOT TO SELL OR ADVERTISE TO YOU.

Case in point: Today I called a potential client a bastard in jest knowing that I might lose him as a client. I will also happily lose a client by being the bearer of bad news. However, at least I could rely on being authentic, and that if I lose a potential client to another attorney because I was upfront, I am fine with that.

ATTORNEY COPYING ATTORNEYS (or "spying and stealing").

Lastly, as to copying. I have received calls from individuals who claimed to be potential clients which I have later learned were shills for another attorney pretending to be an accused defendant. This sort of "spying" is disgusting in my opinion, and now I am hearing that certain settlement factory attorneys are not only copying the style and layout of my website (specifically copying my FAQ sections), but on the phone, they are literally using the WORDS I say to potential clients, and this is simply low class.

When someone books an appointment on our Cashman Law Firm PLLC appointment calendar, I open up the conversation on movie copyright cases (e.g., the recent Strike 3 Holdings, LLC movie bittorrent cases) speaking about motions to quash and anonymity (noting that they are anonymous throughout the entire "John Doe" phase of the lawsuit until they are named and served as a defendant). From there, I discuss the three ways to handle these cases -- 1) litigation, 2) settling, and 3) ignoring (the "ignore route"). I go into each of these options, answering any of the client's questions along the way. Then I end the call letting the potential client know how to become my client, without any sales tactics or closings. If I realize that the person on the other end of the phone has certain needs or preferences, I'll tailor the conversation to match what he or she is looking to discuss.

The reason I mention the contents of my conversations is simply because I have heard that certain attorneys (one in particular) have now copied and adapted my style and content into the conversations they have with their potential clients.

[NOTE: I know this because I don't spend a zillion dollars on Google AdWords and advertising, and so I am often not the first attorney people speak to. Thus, I often ask what advice was given by the other attorney in order to identify and if necessary, dispel myths and stories sometimes told to potential clients when they encounter a settlement factory attorney before speaking to me (if necessary, I'll correct fake stories, fake threats, unreasonable settlement numbers, and fake strategies which I know are not viable).]

This is not the first time this this attorney has sent someone to pretend to be a John Doe Defendant, nor will it be the last, and I don't have intellectual property protection for the way I like to approach copyright infringement cases.

My point is just to be aware of what kinds of "defense attorneys" are out there. Be suspect of everybody, and READ. I don't compete with other attorneys, and good attorneys should not care to compete with me (and many don't). Many of us are friends, as we help each other with the copyright infringement cases filed across the US. However, as to the settlement factories -- they will continue to watch my site and change their strategy and their website every time I call them out on a scheme or fake strategy they sell to those who call them. Eventually, I would like them to simply take clients, give them honest advice, do good work, and don't scheme.

CONTACT AN ATTORNEY: If you have a question for a Cashman Law Firm, PLLC attorney about your ISP subpoena for your bittorrent based copyright infringement lawsuit, you can e-mail us at [email protected], you can set up a free and confidential phone consultation to speak to us about your ISP subpoena, or you can call or SMS us at 713-364-3476 (this is our Cashman Law Firm, PLLC's phone number).

DISCLAIMER: Anything written here on Steemit is my own personal opinion (or here, my own personal rant) and is not to be taken as legal advice. We have a law firm (https://www.cashmanlawfirm.com) and you can e-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions about what I have written here.