ACS Law – back in business abroad

The firm that contacted thousands of broadband users to tell them that they owed money for illegal file sharing was declared bankrupt in the UK but now appears to have started up operations overseas.

ACS Law is a firm that was accused of taking advantage of tough anti-piracy laws in order to take money. The firm was accused of speculative invoicing after around 10,000 broadband users received letters accusing them of illegal file sharing and demanding fees of around £500 from them to avoid court action. Many of the people that received the letters said that they had never engaged in this sort of activity.

Whilst ACS Law and its representative Andrew Crossley did take some cases to court, Crossley tried to dismiss the action part way through and was accused of trying “to avoid judicial scrutiny”. The case was eventually dismissed when he walked out of court stating that he was receiving death threats and the company was fined for wasting court time.

The company was then declared bankrupt much to the relief of many broadband users. However, it appears that operations may have started up again, but this time they are being aimed at people overseas. One firm of solicitor, Ralli Solicitors, represented some of the UK broadband users taken to court by ACS. The firm now said that it is handling a case for a client in Greece.

The law firm said: “They have received e-mails purporting to be from the law firm. The IP addresses quoted do not appear conventional, making reference to country codes outside of the UK. Despite this, the letters of claim refer to UK law under the Copyrights, Design and Patents Act.”

Did you ever fall victim to ACS when it was in operation in the UK?

Source – BBC