Friend "going to be sued" for downloading?

[fini]

Furthermore, when it does reach the higher courts, the law is liable to change.

I'm curious as to how, in these circumstances, you think the law could change. It's statute rather than judge made law and it's based on an EC Directive so it would only be the ECJ who could truly derogate us off of the directive. Of course you can always read between the lines, but both the act and the directive seem awfully clear to me with no wriggle room whatsoever.

The mere conduit provisions were never meant to deal with individual liability.

They were never campaigned for by individuals - it was ISP bodies that did so - but there's no evidence to suggest that they're not meant to apply to individuals equally.

the most sensible action is to pay it off and avoid going to court with the chance of ending up with a criminal record for copyright infringement.

There's no chance of a criminal conviction here - the solicitors have contacted his friend rather than the police/CPS and, as such, they're looking to go down the civil route.

 

[sunama]

...the most sensible action is to pay it off and avoid going to court with the chance of ending up with a criminal record for copyright infringement.

Hang on...You dont happen to work for Davenport Lyon do you?

I find all too often that solicitors (of the defendents) are not prepared to think up excuses for their clients that will get them the minimum sentence/punishment/fine. Its almost as if they can't be bothered to come up with an excuse/reason for an offence to minimise/negate the damage.

What I like to see is a defence team in the vain of that which fought on behalf of OJ Simpson...who got a murderer off scott free. And not the sort of defence who tell their client to own up to the truth and get hammered in court. I mean, what good can come of telling the truth and owning up to your internet downloading crimes? Nothing.

As part of my job I have been to court many times to assist in prosecuting individuals in civil and criminal cases. One thing I have learnt is that those that are honest, generally get hit the hardest. Those that lie and are evasive can get off scott free. And, if you are clever in how you answer questions (in relation to your offence), then you stand a good chance of getting off scott free. This is from seeing numerous prosecutions.

 

[Mr.X]

Just received a letter as well, opened a new thread at
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...php?p=12097383
for all those that are interested.