back to article POW: Smut-seeding copyright troll slammed as 'extortionate'

Prenda Law – the copyright troll whose exploits included seeding smut onto torrents, seeing who downloaded them, and threatening them with exposure if they didn't pay up as infringers – has been described as “crooked” and “extortionate” by a 91-year-old judge. The company wants the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn $237 …

  1. Mark 85
    Facepalm

    One really can't make this stuff up. If it were a TV show, no one would believe it. If only it were legal for Prenda Law and their lawyers to be taken out an shot as an affront to everyone's intelligence.

    1. Rob Willett

      No, no, no.

      Don't take them out and shoot them, please....

      We lost the SCO show as that ran off the rails in the litigation with IBM, this is the next best thing. In some respects this is even better as I never got to see any video from the SCO show.

      If this was on HBO I'd pay for it.

      We need the Prenda team to get their day in court. I'd actually buy a plane ticket to the US to watch them. I've never seen some compelling drama. Stuff Poldark, sod Downton Abbey, forget about the new Star Wars. This is the place to be.

      Rob

  2. Notas Badoff
    Pint

    How far will a lawyer go?

    Can you really get paid to railroad your own client into jail? Hmm, if the client (now bankrupt) refuses to pay, can you then demand the state pay your expenses? Can a client really be so stupid as to arrange for both prosecutor and 'defense' to be trying to put them in jail?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How far will a lawyer go?

      Maybe they plan to appeal again on the grounds of incompetent legal representation?

      1. TeeCee Gold badge
        Alert

        Re: How far will a lawyer go?

        If you read the full story on Popehat you'll find they already managed to accuse themselves of incompetence in an earlier case. You can judge the efficacy of that strategy by the fact that they got truly fucked and are now appealing.

        Yes, they really are so stupid that the obvious gags have already been done. By them. In court. While keeping a straight face.

      2. kain preacher

        Re: How far will a lawyer go?

        That's a step no lawyer wants top take cause that opens them up to sanctions.

  3. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    So 90+ YO judge get this is an extortion operation.

    I guess the judge grew up on a farm.

    He knows the smell of BS when it wafts across his nose.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just a thought

    If they shared the movies as Torrents, should it be illegal to take them? It seems like accusing people of stealing one of the "please take one" leaflets in a shop.

    1. Six_Degrees

      Re: Just a thought

      They're relying on most people's aversion to being associated with porn. There's no legal merit at all behind their threats. They are, as the judge rightly noted, flat-out extortion.

      Fortunately for society as a whole, Prenda has an attorney who apparently has "Supreme Chucklehead" printed below his name on his business cards.

    2. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: Just a thought

      "If they shared the movies as Torrents, should it be illegal to take them?"

      No.

      That's the crux of why their cases were overturned when it came out that they had been seeding the files, then suing people who downloaded them.

  5. LaeMing

    Forget the rest.

    THIS GUY for president!

  6. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Windows

    I'm just wonderind

    if it's safe to view the linked video.

    I mean, with trolls like these around...

  7. Alan J. Wylie

    Harry Pregerson, not Dean Pregersen,

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Pregerson (with an "o")

    Exactly 70 years ago he was "severely wounded in the Battle of Okinawa".

    http://popehat.com/2015/05/04/prenda-law-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-appellate-argument/

    Dean (also a judge) is his son, born after the war ended.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If only Roy Bean was presiding...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      ...seems like Mr Bean was defending.

      1. R Callan

        But Mr. Bean was Sharpe.

    2. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Thumb Up

      "If only Roy Bean was presiding..."

      Indeed.

      Trolls.

      Hang'em high.

  9. Scott Wheeler

    Criminal?

    Isn't this straightforward blackmail, and hence a criminal offence?

    1. nijam Silver badge

      Re: Criminal?

      > Isn't this straightforward blackmail, and hence a criminal offence?

      A bit more like a protection racket than blackmail, surely?

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