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French lawyer gets 6 month ban over P2P legal threats

6 April 2008 22:00 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 7 comments

A lawyer working with Swiss anti-piracy outfit Logistep has received a ban from practicing as a lawyer for six months. Elizabeth Martin sent inappropriately agressive and deliberately false and misleading letters to thousands of alleged file sharers that had supposedly been infringing on the rights of Call of Juarez game owned by Techland.

In short, Martin has written to the file sharers and demanded a payment of �400.00 in compensation for the alleged copyright offense if the user wanted to avoid going to court. The letter went on to lead readers to believe that they would be found guilty in court and would be responsible for their own court fees, which would be "substantial."

Along with the promise of a guilty verdict, she warned the file sharers that a decision against them would amount to "hundreds of thousands of euros." The letter also ended with a threat to seize and resell the personal belongings of any user who was found guilty and couldn't pay a fine. "If you are not able to pay the damages ordered by the court, our client will seek to gain the amount by the sale of your goods," the letter concluded.

A disciplinary investigation by the Conseil de l�Ordre du Barreau de Paris disapproved of the legal threats Martin had made. "By choosing to reproduce aggressive foreign methods, intended to force payments, the interested party also violated [the code] which specifies that the lawyer cannot unfairly represent a situation or seriousness of threat," a decision against the lawyer read.

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Permalink to this article

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Discuss this article!
sgriesch (Newbie) 6 April 2008 22:14
No question about it. That's just plain bullying and lying. [ + quote]
Hunt720 (Junior Member) 6 April 2008 22:37
I believe a " touche" is in order here. [ + quote]
Pop_Smith (Senior Member) 6 April 2008 23:01
Awesome, glad to see the French doing something good for once. ;) Too bad the MPAA/RIAA gets away with this same tactic in America. A judge needs to give them the smackdown like they did to this lady. [ + quote]
iluvendo (AfterDawn Addict) 6 April 2008 23:17
1) I agree 100% with Pop_Smith 2) *you know what they say " 97% of the lawyers give the 3% of good lawyers a bad name"* [ + quote]
cyprusrom (AfterDawn Addict) 6 April 2008 23:45
*Originally posted by iluvendo:* *you know what they say " 97% of the lawyers give the 3% of good lawyers a bad name"* LOL! I thought that was being said about the Police! Just burned me with a $200+ ticket...A-hole! [ + quote]
xempler (Newbie) 7 April 2008 15:17
Hahahaha...I love how she demanded payment. Call me crazy but that sounds like extortion to me. [ + quote]
r0b0t3ch (Inactive) 7 April 2008 18:52
I don't really like most lawyers as they are 99% money-motivated and without conscience so I say .......................(sorry AD for the bad word) but BOO YAH! That bitch ain't practicin' no more now. Lesson taught, lesson probably learned and punishment is well deserved! According to MY laws, she would have been sent to the gallows for attempting to intimidate that way. Wouldn't be surprised if a few considered suicide after what she threatened. Baaaaaad French biatch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No 'moo lah lah for you for 6 months' [ + quote]