Panic as Thousands Receive ‘Fines’ For Streaming RedTube Videos

[silicon_toad2000]

http://torrentfreak.com/panic-as-thousands-receive-fines-for-streaming-redtube-videos-131210/

One of the hardest troll-hit countries is Germany but in the last few days came a surprise to shock even the most experienced lawyers in the field. Seemingly out of nowhere, many thousands of Internet users received letters from German lawfirm U & C apparently acting on behalf of a Swiss company called The Archive AG.

Up to a point their claims appear to be fairly standard stuff, unsurprisingly involving adult content with titles including Dream Trip, Hot Stories, Amanda’s Secrets, Miriam’s Adventures and Glamour Showgirls. For the user’s apparent transgressions The Archive AG asks for a payment of 149.50 euros for lawyer fees, 15.50 euros in damages and sundry other costs amounting to 250 euros. Some individuals are reporting receiving multiple demands.

However, the real shocker becomes apparent when one discovers where the alleged infringements are said to have taken place. Not a torrent site or other venue where user IP addresses are publicly available but on streaming video site RedTube, the 105th most popular site in the world. While RedTube specializes in adult content, its functionality is not dissimilar to that of YouTube.

The scale of this settlement operation becomes apparent when reading reports from Wilde Beuger Solmecke, a law firm that specializes in defending Internet users from the threats of copyright trolls.

“We assume that over 10,000 warning letters have been sent by the firm U + C,” the lawfirm explain, adding that at least 1,000 individuals had already called their offices for advice.

So how did the lawfirm acquire the identities of so many individuals? That question has become the subject of many theories, from IP address-grabbing adverts to malware, to a huge lawsuit forcing RedTube to comply.

That last theory was being pursued yesterday by German publication Die Welt, who ran a report claiming that the Cologne Regional Court had been involved in a request to hand over the data of individuals who had simply viewed the videos in question. One theory is that the Court may have mistaken RedTube for some kind of P2P file-sharing network where infringers also upload.

But even that theory was being questioned by RedTube themselves last evening. Speaking with XBiz, RedTube denied that anything had been handed over.

[GhostShip]

Not really "fines" then it seems, more speculative invoicing tricks.

Whilst not specifically covering the law in Germany these helpful books explain the tactics to be used when dealing with these fraud ridden speculative invoicing schemes.

http://acsbore.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/115443516-the-speculative-invoicing-handbook-second-edition.pdf

http://torrentfreak.com/static/The-Speculative-Invoicing-Handbook.pdf