The ‘speculative invoicing’ system that ACS:Law ran seems to have come to an
end now, and with none of the cases ever going to full trial. ACS:Law sent
letters to alleged file shares on the behalf of copyright holders requesting
payment of several hundred pounds to avoid the case going to court. At the time
the letters were being sent there was lots of questions about how accurate the
data used was, and how some file sharing systems actually tainted data making
it feasible that even with IP address information it was possible people had
not shared the alleged content.
Fast forward back to early 2012, and following a complaint, the Solicitor’s
Regulatory Authority has finally ruled in a case, with the result that Andrew
Crossley, the previous sole solicitor at ACS:Law has been banned from
practising law for two years and fined £76,326.55. Mr Crossley was previously
declared bankrupt in June 2011, which
resulted in a Information Commissioner imposed fine being reduced from £200,000
to just £800 due to an affidavit pleading limited financial means.
This situation has clouded the whole copyright debate in the UK,
particularly as with lot of the material that was alleged shared, the copyright
holder was not the original content producer, but the rights to copyright had
been purchased.
Broadband itself has disrupted the status quo of media distribution that
started with the mass printing of the written word, which rendered rooms full
cf copy scribes redundant, alas those firms that are attempting to exist on
profits from back catalogues are likely to go the same way. Those firms likely
to thrive and prosper are those that produce new, exciting and innovative
material, i.e. something people are willing to spend money on to stimulate
their senses, and those firms also ensure it is available across a wide range
of media outlets.
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Bankrupt?
Yeah right – anyone want to buy a bridge?
I’m sure I won’t be alone in wishing the very worst upon Crossley….
So gets off scot free? He should be struck off and serve prison time if he can’t pay.
I presume the not paying a SRA fine would result in not being able to practise if its still outstanding at the end of the 2 years.
The latest fine is a new debt too.
Maybe we should pat Crosley on the back, all hes done is made it almost impossible to sue file-sharers.
So until the DEA goes into full swing, we are free to share!
Actually this may also apply to the DEA when “rights” holders get an anonymous list of file-sharers who have past a certain threshold and decide to sue them, hopefully crosley will have helped us there as well ;D
“I presume the not paying a SRA fine would result in not being able to practise if its still outstanding at the end of the 2 years.”
I would have assumed being an undischarged bankrupt would result in the same?
Anyway I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Crossley…
He’s an idiot, this was a clumsy attempt to follow the US model.
When journalists tried to track him down, it turned out he lives in an 800k mansion with a Bentley Arnage sitting on the driveway. I can only presume those assets are, rather wisely it would seem, not in his name.
Although that was some time ago, and if The Enquirer article is anything to go by this circumstances have worsened somewhat. Still difficult to know.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2139237/acs-law-solicitor-andrew-crossley-suspended