What does this mean to an internet user who has downloaded or streamed this movie using bittorrent, Popcorntime, and/or some other “free” streaming service?
What this means is that they are hard at work contacting production companies / copyright holders for newer movies (a.k.a., “floppers) which have not done so well in the theaters. They convince these companies to license the rights to “enforce” that movie company’s copyrights (think, sue in a “copyright troll” lawsuit looking for settlements). Then they have their local counsel file “John Doe” lawsuits in select federal courts (where the judges are friendly to them, or where the lawsuits are otherwise profitable).
What will happen to me if I have been caught downloading one of these films?
Honestly, at the moment, likely nothing, at least not yet. There are two ways that Carl Crowell and his team of local attorneys across the US have been enforcing their client’s copyrights.
By sending a DMCA notice directly to the accused downloader through the ISP. Here, the DMCA notice directs the accused downloader to visit the Rightsenforcement.com website, and pay a settlement for each title allegedly downloaded or streamed using bittorrent, Popcorntime, and (yes, I have heard about this too, but I do not yet understand the mechanics of it), KODI on an Amazon Fire TV Stick.
By filing a copyright infringement lawsuit for $150,000 statutory damages against a set of “John Doe” defendants who were each accused of uploading and/or downloading a particular movie using bittorrent (or an app like Popcorntime which still uses bittorrent to stream movies to its users).
What is the relevance that this list of movies is changing?
The fact that the list of movies is changing means that there are now new copyright holder production companies who have “signed on” to the business model of copyright trolling. Politics and policy aside, this means that the copyrights on these movies (and the infringement, or the illegal downloading, uploading, duplication, and/or streaming of these movies without a license) will be the subject of future lawsuits.
If you look lower down on the RIGHTSENFORCEMENT.COM client list, you will see titles such as “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Mr. Church,” “The Cobbler,” “Cell,” “Fathers and Daughters,” “I.T.,” “Mechanic: Resurrection,” “Septembers of Shiraz,” “Survivor,” “Automata,” “London Has Fallen,” “Criminal,” “Eliminators,” and more recently, “Undisputed 4,” and “A Family Man.” Each of these movies have been (and continue to be) the subjects of copyright infringement lawsuits across the federal courts in the U.S.
Expect these new movies to be subjects of coming lawsuits as well.
In June, 2014, I exposed the list of porn companies that were working with CEG-TEK. This upset a lot of adult film companies, who turned around and started having CEG-TEK send letters using a variation on their name (which made no sense to me *IF* the reason they were having CEG-TEK send out DMCA notices was to “encourage ‘pirates’ to sign into their websites legitimately and pay an annual fee”). Instead, like roaches, these companies scattered, but even so, I still tracked the name changes and I kept this list up to date.
The reason this list is immediately relevant is because now Carl Crowell is sending out these same DMCA notices to Internet Subscribers through his RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT company. For more about Crowell or his RIGHTSENFORCEMENT.COM website, click this link.
Below is a list I compiled from my own records as to which copyright holders are hiring companies to collect $300 per title settlements on their adult film copyrights. The exciting news from 2017 is that I now have an idea of what are the porn companies which are now working aggressively with Carl Crowell (RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT), including some which were not working with CEG-TEK. I will list the most active companies first.
REALITY KINGS (Manwin Content)
Reality Kings (http://www.realitykings.com). Reality Kings has obscured their name in the past after I posted the original list in 2014. They have been known to send out DMCA letters using the names 1) Manwin Content RK Limited DBA Reality Kings, and 2) MG Content RK Limited. Regardless of the name, it is still Reality Kings.
Reality Kings is a giant corporation, comprising 45+ separated brand names, each of which have their own website. Their brand names include:
40 Inch Plus, Big Tits Boss, Cum Fiesta, Extreme Asses, Girls of Naked, In the VIP, Milf Hunter, Money Talks, RK Prime, See My Wife, Teens Love Huge Cocks, We Live Together, 8th Street Latinas, Bikini Crashers, Cum Girls, Extreme Naturals, HD Love, Mega Cock Cravers, Milf Next Door, Monster Curves, Real Orgasms, Sneaky Sex, Top Shelf Pussy, Wives in Pantyhose, Bad Tow Truck, CFNM Secret, Dangerous Dongs, First Time Auditions, Happy Tugs, Mike in Brazil, Moms Bang Teens, No Faces, Round and Brown, Street Blowjobs, Tranny Surprise, Big Naturals, Captain Stabbin, Euro Sex Parties, Flower Tucci, Hot Bush, Mike’s Apartment, Moms Lick Teens, Pure 18, Saturday Night Latina, Team Squirt, and VIP Crew.
This is a list of Reality Kings sites. Each button is clickable and reveals hundreds of subtopics. This list can be found at http://www.realitykings.com/tour/sitemap/videos/
For a list of some of Reality Kings’ titles that I know they have enforced via the DMCA letters, see my original list in the “ORIGINAL LIST OF PORN COMPANIES SENDING DMCA NOTICES” heading.
BRAZZERS (MG Premium Ltd.)
Brazzers (http://www.brazzers.com). Brazzers also has obscured their name in the past after I posted the original list in 2014. They have been known to send out DMCA letters using the names 1) Froytal Services Limited DBA Brazzers, and confusingly enough, 2) MG Premium Ltd. The interesting point to note is that this MG Premium entity seems to be a common thread through a number of the big-name porn companies, which suggests that there is a common owner or entity through which they tunnel their copyright enforcement activities.At this moment, I am not searching deeper into learning who they are.
Brazzers is another a giant corporation, comprising 47+ separated brand names, each of which have their own website. Their brand names include:
Asses in Public, Baby Got Boobs, Big Butts Like It Big, Big Tits In Sports, Big Tits In Uniform, Bit Tits at School, Big Tits at Work, Bit Wet Butts, Brazzers Exxtra, Brazzers Live, Brazzers Vault, Brazzers en Espanol, Busty & Real, Bustyz, Butts & Blacks, CFNM Day With A Pornstar, Dirty Masseur, Doctor Adventures, Hot And Mean, Hot Chicks Big Asses, JugFuckers, Milfs Like It Big, Mommy Got Boobs, Moms in control, Pornstars Like it Big, Racks & Blacks, Real Wife Stories, SexPro Adventures, Shes Gonna Squirt, Teens Like It Big, and Teens Like It Black.
As part of their “ZZ Series”, brands include:
A Brazzers Christmas Special, American Whore Story, Brazzers House, Brazzers Worldwide Budapest, Brazzers Worldwide Paris, Deadly Rain, Ghostbusters XXX Parody, Lost in Brazzers, Lustbite, One Night in the Valley, Pornstar POV, Pussy o Plomo, Storm of Kings XXX Parody, The Whore of Wall Street, and ZZ Erection 2016.
This is a list of Brazzers sites. Each button is clickable and reveals hundreds of subtopics. This list can be found at http://www.brazzers.com/sitemap/brazzers-porn-directory/
For a list of some of Brazzers titles that I know they have enforced via the DMCA letters, see my original list in the “ORIGINAL LIST OF PORN COMPANIES SENDING DMCA NOTICES” heading.
DIGITAL PLAYGROUND (Manwin DP)
Digital Playground (http://www.digitalplayground.com). Digital Playground is the third company that obscured their name as soon as I posted the original list in 2014. They have been known to send out DMCA letters using the names 1) Digital Playground, and more frequently, 2) Manwin DP Corp. DBA Digital Playground.
Digital Playground is another a giant corporation, comprising 47+ separated brand names, each of which have their own website. However, unlike Reality Kings and Brazzers, Digital Playground has taken steps to mask the list of brand names by hiding them behind an “A(1), B(5), C(0)…” list. Thus, I am sharing the full list below:
Cougerville, Crave, Dirty Santa, DP Presents, DP Star Confidential, DP STAR Seasons 1-5, Flesh, Flesh: House of Hedonism, Girls of Summer, Gym Angels, House Calls, Infernal, Jack’s Back, League of Frankenstein, Lock and Load, London Knights (a Heroes & Villains XXX Parody Series), Rina Ellis Saves The World (a 90s XXX Parody), Sherlock (a XXX Parody), Sisterhood, Sisters of Anarchy, Ski Bums, Stryker, Swans of LA, The Fetish Diaries, The Pleasure Provider, True Detective: A XXX Parody, Wingmen, and 4Ever.
This is a list of Digital Playground sites. Each button is clickable and reveals hundreds of subtopics. The complete list can be found at http://www.digitalplayground.com/porn-directory-sitemap/series/
For a list of some of Digital Playground titles that I know they have enforced via the DMCA letters, see my original list in the “ORIGINAL LIST OF PORN COMPANIES SENDING DMCA NOTICES” heading, below.
ORIGINAL LIST OF PORN COMPANIES SENDING DMCA NOTICES
Axel Braun Productions – “Batman XXX: A Porn Parody”
Celestial Inc., DBA Lethal Hardcore – Fuck My Mom and Me 17
Cinderella Distributors Inc. – Backdoor To Hollywood 6
Coast to Coast Video – Older Women Younger Men 16
Combat Zone Inc. – Daddy’s Little Princess #2
Daring Media Group – Pretty Woman
Diabolic – Swallowing is Good For You
Digital Sin, Inc. – All About Ashlynn 1 – Incestuous – Little Darlings – My Anal School Girl – My Plaything Ashlynn Brooke – Perfect Little Pussy – The Family That Lays Together – The Innocence Of Youth #3, #5, #6 – This Is My First… A Gangbang Movie
Echo Alpha, Inc. DBA Evil Angel – Fetish Fanatic 12 – Fetish Fuck Dolls 3 – Raw 16 – Rocco’s Perfect Slaves 3 – Rocco’s Young Anal Adventures
Fallout Films – Naughty Girls 2
Froytal Services Limited DBA Babes (now known as “MG Premium Ltd.”) – Abrasador – Amatores – Dancing With Myself – Hearts Racing – Love Encounter – Raving With Pleasure
Froytal Services Limited DBA Brazzers (now known as “MG Premium Ltd.”) – Dani’s Back and Ready to Play – Driving Mrs. Madison Wild – I Can Walk!!! – Miss Titness America – Mommy Got Boobs 15 – Sharing My Roommate’s Cock (Milfs Like It Big) – Slutty Sorority Contest – Teens Like It Big 12 – The Dangers of Working From Home (Kiki Minaj)
Froytal Services Limited DBA Mofos (now known as “MG Premium Ltd.”) – Best Vacation Ever! (Ivy Laine) – Cheerleader Fantasy – Flashing Gets Her Whatever She Wants – Fun And Sex Games – I Make It Rain On Your Tits (I Know That Girl; Dillon Harper) – Jewels for the Duch-ASS – Rub a Dub Gimme a Tug – Swinging Slut Buffet
Froytal Services Limited DBA Twistys (now known as “MG Premium Ltd.”) – Burnin’ Luv – Cum Over And Taste..
GGW Direct, LLC DBA “Girls Gone Wild” – ALL NEW COLLEGE GIRLS EXPOSED VOL 1 – ALL NEW COLLEGE GIRLS EXPOSED VOL 2 – ALL NEW COLLEGE GIRLS EXPOSED VOL 3 – ALL NEW COLLEGE GIRLS EXPOSED VOL 4 – ALL NEW COLLEGE GIRLS EXPOSED VOL 5 – ALL NEW COLLEGE GIRLS EXPOSED VOL 6 – Baby Bash Live & Uncensored – Bad Girls 2 – BEACH BABES 3 – BEHIND CLOSED DOORS – Best Breasts Ever – BEST BREASTS EVER 2 – Best of Blondes 2 – Celebrity Look-A-Likes – CO-ED TRYOUTS – CO-ED TRYOUTS 2 – CO-ED TRYOUTS 3 – DADDY’S LITTLE GIRLS – Endless Spring Break 3 – Endless Spring Break 4 – Endless Spring Break 5 – Endless Spring Break 6 – Endless Spring Break 7 – Endless Spring Break 9 – Endless Spring Break 10 – Endless Spring Break 11 – Endless Spring Break 12 – Endless Spring Break 13 – Endless Spring Break 14 – EXTREME ORGY 1 – EXTREME ORGY 2 – EXTREME ORGY 3 – FIRST TIMERS – FIRST TIMERS 2 – Freshman Class – FRESHMAN ORIENTATION 1 – FRESHMAN ORIENTATION 2 – FRESHMAN ORIENTATION 3 – FRESHMAN ORIENTATION 4 – GGW – Extreme Sex – GGW – On Tour 1 – GGW – On Tour 2 – GGW – On Tour 3 – GGW – On Tour 4 – GGW – On Tour 5 – GGW – On Tour 6 – GGW – On Tour 7 – GGW – On Tour 8 – GGW – Sweet Young Sex Maniacs – GIRL POWER – GIRL POWER 2 – GIRL POWER 3 – GIRL POWER 4 – GIRL POWER 5 – GIRL POWER 6 – GIRL POWER 7 – GIRL POWER 8 – GIRL POWER 8 – GIRL POWER 9 – Girls On Girls – GIRLS WHO CRAVE SEX – GIRLS WHO CRAVE SEX 3 – Girls Who Like Girls – GIRLS WHO LIKE TOYS – Horny Cheerleaders – HORNY SCHOOL GIRLS – HORNY SCHOOL GIRLS 2 – HORNY SCHOOL GIRLS 3 (PRIVATE TAPES) – HORNY SCHOOL GIRLS 4 – Hottest Texas Coeds – ISLAND ORGY – MARDI GRAS INVASION – My 18th Birthday – Road Trip – ROCKS AMERICA – Sex Race – SEX STARVED COLLEGE GIRLS 2 – SEX STARVED COLLEGE GIRLS 3 – SEX STARVED COLLEGE GIRLS 4 – SEX STARVED COLLEGE GIRLS 5 – SEX STARVED COLLEGE GIRLS 6 – SEX STARVED COLLEGE GIRLS 7 – SEX STARVED PANTY RAID – Sexiest Moments Ever – Sexiest Moments Ever 2 – SORORITY GIRL ORGY – SORORITY GIRL ORGY 2 – SORORITY GIRL ORGY 3 – SORORITY GIRL ORGY 4 – Spring Break 2007 – SPRING BREAK SEX RIOT – The Perfect Pair – THE SEIZED VIDEO – Ultimate Rush – Usually a siterip or a torrent containing 25+ titles. – Wild World – Wildest Bar in America
Giant Media Group, Inc. DBA Devil’s Film (they have changed this name more than once, but have kept the “Devil’s Film” trade name.) – Ass Full Of Cum 4 – Best Of Gangland Cream Pie – Cum On My Hairy Pussy 2 – Cum On My Hairy Pussy 16 – Don’t Tell My Wife I Buttfucked Her Best Friend – Gangland 70 – Gangland 85 – Gangland Cream Pie 24 – Gangland Cream Pie 25 – Gangland Cream Pie 26 – Gangland Cream Pie 27 – Gangland Cream Pie 28 – I Wanna Buttfuck Your Daughter 10 – My Wife Caught Me Assfucking Her Mother – My Wife Caught Me Assfucking Her Mother 2 – My Wife Caught Me Assfucking Her Mother 5
Girlfriends Films Inc. – I Dream of Jo 4 True Passion – Mother Daughter Exchange Club 27 – Poor Little Shyla 2 – Tides of Lust – Lesbian First Timers – Lesbian Seductions 46
Intense Industries – Fucking Your Socks Off
JM Productions Inc. – Suck Off Races 3
JW Releasing Ltd – Kinky Business
Kick Ass Pictures Inc. – Foot Fetish Daily 9
LFP Internet Group, LLC DBA Hustler – Barely Legal 2 – Barely Legal 16 – Barely Legal 19 – Barely Legal 84 – Barely Legal 100 – Barely Legal 127 – Barely Legal 128 – Barely Legal 131 – Barely Legal 134 – Barely Legal 138 – Barely Legal 139 – Barely Legal 140 – Barely Legal Little Runaways – Barely Legal: All Stars 5 – New Wave Hookers – The Opening of Misty Beethoven – This Ain’t Game of Thrones
Manwin Content RK Limited DBA Reality Kings (now known as “MG Content RK Limited”) – 2 For 1 Pink – A Lavish Load – Belle Bottom – Bouncing Deluca (Big Naturals; Angel Deluca) – Cum Hard – Dirty Minds – Full Figure (Monster Curves; Katie Banks) – Getting Hardy – Girlfriends Revenge (GF Revenge 6) – Hello Alexis – Leather and Lace – Licking Lessons – Jasmine Wolff (Moms Bang Teens 2013-12-30) – Naughty Kennedy – Kennedy Leigh (Moms Bang Teens 2014-01-20) – Pussy Love (Money Talks – Esmi & Lily) – Riding Riley – Ripping Through – Sexy All Star – Sexy Stella – Sweet Veronica – Tits and Hips – Ass In Heels – Angell Summers (EuroSexParties 2013-05-30) – Busty Bikini Babes 1 – Finger Licking Good – Lick It
Manwin DP Corp. DBA Digital Playground – Bad Girls 5 – Bad Girls 6 – Bridesmaids – Code of Honor – Don’t Fuck My Sister – For Sale – Island Fever 2 – Island Fever 3 – Jack Attack 4 – Jack’s POV 2 – Jack’s POV 3 – Jack’s POV 5 – Jack’s POV 7 – Jack’s POV 8 – Jack’s POV 10 – Jack’s POV 12 – Jack’s POV 15 – JACK’S POV 19 – Jesse Jane Fuck Fantasy – Jesse Jane Kiss Kiss – Lost and Found – Nurses – Pink Slip – Pirates – Raven Alexis The Substitute – Riley Steele Deceptions – Riley Steele Satisfaction – The Girlfriend Exchange – Titlicious 2 – Top Guns – unSEXpected – Web Whore – WHEN DADDY’S AWAY
Marc Dorcel – Cathy 40 (Cheating Housewife) – WIFE NEXT DOOR
Marc Dorcel DBA SBO Pictures, Inc. – Orgy Anthology
SBO Pictures DBA Vouyer Media – Jack In Me POV 2
SBO Pictures DBA Wicked Pictures – Daddy Did The Babysitter – I Was a Mail Order Bride – Octomom: Home Alone – Selfies – Spacenuts – Teen Ravers
New Sensations Inc. – Almost Heaven – Anal Sex Secrets – Ashlynn Brooke Is Sexy – Big Bang Theory A XXX Parody – Big Girls Are Sexy #3 – Double D Vixens – Friends A Xxx Parody – I Can’t Believe I’m Doing This (Zeina Heart) – I Love Asians 11 – I Love Asians 5 – Redheads Are Sexy #5 – Sexy Student Bodies` – WKRP in Cincinnati: A XXX Parody – Young Girls With Big Tits 10
Patrick Collins Inc., DBA Elegant Angel – Alexis Texas Is Buttwoman – Big Wet Asses #3 – Big Wet Asses #6 – Big Wet Asses #7 – Big Wet Asses 16 – Cuties 4 – It’s A Daddy Thing! – It’s A Secretary Thing! – It’s A Secretary Thing! 2 – Massive Facials 5 – Performers Of The Year 2014 – Real Female Orgasms 10 – The A Line – The Bombshells 5 – The Greatest Squirters Ever! 4
Pleasure Productions Inc. – Wild Honey 2 (Tera Patrick)
RLD Distribution LLC – Girls Of Red Light District – Sasha Grey – I Bang Teens (Megan Salinas) – White Dicks Black Chicks
Second Phase Distribution Inc. – Big Butt All Stars – Crystal Clear – Mama Turned Me Out 3 – Mama Turned Me Out 4 – Mama Turned Me Out 5 – Pigtail Virgins
Third Degree Films, Inc. – Big Boob Orgy 2 – Curve Appeal – Illegal Ass 2 – Laid In Lingerie 2 – Laid in Lingerie 3 – Spunk’d 7 – Spunk’d 8 – Top Ten 2
Vivid Entertainment LLC – Farrah 2 Backdoor and More – Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom – Kim Kardashian Superstar – Raven Alexis Unleashed – Raylene’s Dirty Work – Tera, Tera, Tera (Tera Patrick) – Tila Tequila Backdoored and Squirting – Tristan Taormino’s Expert Guide to the G-Spot
White Ghetto Films Inc. – Group Sex Junkies
Zero Tolerance Entertainment – Dr. Ava’s Guide to Sensual BDSM For Couples – Is Your Mother Home?
Now obviously you will notice a common theme along each of these copyright holders, and that is the “genre” of content they all produce. You will also notice that in this list there are “copyright trolls,” (meaning, companies who in the past have used or use the federal courts to sue individual downloaders for copyright infringement) and there are “not” copyright trolls (meaning, companies who have NOT sued defendants for copyright infringement). You can see which are copyright trolls by either searching the web for their name, or doing a search on PACER or JUSTIA to see whether they have sued in federal court.
A few things to note.
1) Many of the larger companies have multiple websites, and do business as multiple entities. For example, Froytal Services Ltd. “does business as” (“DBA”) Mofos and Brazzers (corresponding to their Mofos.com and Brazzers.com websites).
2) Many copyright holders are OLDER COMPANIES and FAMILY OPERATED BUSINESSES. This means that it is common to have former porn companies hire CEG TEK to track and send letters for “vintage” films from the 1970’s and 1980’s. The copyrights for these films ARE STILL IN EFFECT, and the former owners of those companies are now elder individuals who are now enforcing their copyrights from FORTY YEARS AGO. On the flip side, many older couples have been caught downloading a film from their youth thinking that since the titles were so old, it was probably legal to do so.
In sum, all I ask of everyone is to understand that the bittorrent networks are no longer safe, and when you download something, assume someone else is watching you. And, be aware that there are companies out there like RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT who are lurking in the bittorrent swarms waiting for you to click on a link so that they can send you a settlement demand letter.
— CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.
NOTE: No attorney client relationship is established by sending this form, and while the attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me, I do not become your attorney until we sign a contract together. That being said, please do not state anything “incriminating” about your case when using this form, or more practically, in any e-mail.
Yesterday, I spent most of the day writing articles for the blog. My two priorities for the day were 1) to get articles out on RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT (focusing on how they differ from what I wrote about CEG-TEK), and 2) to write about the great merging of the porn and movie industry to break copyright law.
THE RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT ARTICLES FOCUSED ON HOW THEY DIFFER FROM CEG-TEK.
Getting articles out on RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT was my first priority, specifically, because so many people were going to the old CEG-TEK articles, and I did not want to give my readers a false sense of security based on what I wrote about those same topics as they applied to the CEG-TEK entity.
RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT should be considered a hostile copyright troll (analogous to a John Steele / Prenda-level troll because their beliefs about law and ‘pirates’ mirror each other). I have abstained from commenting on the personality of Carl Crowell (the owner of RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT and the likely puppet master behind all of the adult film and movie “John Doe” bittorrent lawsuits filed across the US). However, I meant it when I said that one should expect tactics of using very illegal, but untraceable means to violate the security of your computer when you log into his site in order to gain leverage over you and scare you into paying a settlement.
Why do I think Crowell would break the law just as John Steele did to achieve his goals? Attorneys that powerful (if not already corrupt) become corrupted, and I have too often seen them develop a sense of invincibility to the law. After crossing one grey line after another, they ultimately end up breaking the law thinking that they will never be caught. This is what happened to John Steele, and this is what I am guessing will eventually happen to the Carl Crowell.
You should expect that RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT will likely be treating cases differently than CEG-TEK did, so I did not want people to get the wrong impression that they were harmless, as CEG-TEK was (in comparison).
WHY I NOW BELIEVE THAT THE MPAA/RIAA COLLUDED WITH THE PORN COMPANIES TO CREATE CASE LAW IN ORDER TO BREAK COPYRIGHT LAW.
The more important topic I wrote about yesterday got shadowed by my other articles. That topic was how the MPAA/RIAA appears to have colluded with the adult film / porn companies with the intent of breaking copyright law.
I started the Cashman Law Firm, PLLC in 2010, just as the MPAA/RIAA lawsuits became quiet. I always wondered where they went, and why they stopped suing defendants.
Now based upon the explicit ‘coming together’ of the adult film companies, the movie companies (MPAA), and now Rightscorp (RIAA) under the leadership of Carl Crowell, his network of attorneys filing Guardaley-backed bittorrent lawsuits across the US, and now the appearance of his RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT company, the merging of what were thought to be separate entities demonstrates that perhaps they weren’t so separate as we thought they were.
WHY I THINK THAT THE MOVIE INDUSTRY AND THE PORN INDUSTRY WERE IN COLLUSION
With the appearance of the RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT entity, I couldn’t help but to think that 1) EITHER CARL CROWELL IS A GENIUS ATTORNEY WHO HAS MERGED THE TWO VERY SEPARATE FACTIONS — MOVIE-BASED COPYRIGHT TROLLS, and PORNOGRAPHY-BASED COPYRIGHT TROLLS, or 2) CARL CROWELL IS MERELY A FIGUREHEAD, A PATSY.
Reading what I have learned about this man, I cannot believe that he is a genius who has united the separate entities of movie lawsuits and porn lawsuits. This is just too big of a project for one man. Rather, I think Carl Crowell is the figurehead replaced by some entity behind the scenes when the relationship between this Guardaley-backed ‘investor’ and Keith Lipscomb soured in April of 2016.
REMEMBER — WHEN LIPSCOMB AND MALIBU MEDIA LLC PARTED WAYS, LIPSCOMB AND GUARDALEY ALSO PARTED WAYS. MALIBU MEDIA LLC CONTINUED FILING LAWSUITS WITH THEIR GUARDALEY-BACKED ENTITY AS THE BOSS, CLAIMING, “WE HAVE A NEW INVESTOR.” ONLY THEN WAS CARL CROWELL INSTALLED AS THE HEAD OF THE GUARDALEY-BACKED SET OF LAWSUITS.
Thus, it occurred to me that Carl Crowell is not the one behind everything, but he is merely their “figurehead / fall guy” answering to some higher entity (just as Lipscomb was the “figurehead / fall guy” to some higher entity for all of the porn-based lawsuits filed since 2010, and just as Paul Duffy of Prenda Law Inc. (R.I.P.) was the “figurehead / fall guy” installed by John Steele). [It would be interesting to learn whether John Steele TOO answered to some higher entity, because he too fits the profile I am about to describe.] Each of these guys came out of nowhere into positions of extreme power, and with the exception of Lipscomb, each of these guys reminded me of drunk fraternity guys who showed up to work in a stretched and torn football jersey, shorts, and a hangover.
HOW I ARRIVED AT THE CONCLUSION THAT THE MOVIE AND PORN INDUSTRY ARE WORKING TOGETHER TO BREAK COPYRIGHT LAW
In the context of researching the ME2 cases (already noting that there was a connection between a number of movie cases [ME2/COOK/CELL/SEPTEMBER/I.T.], specifically, that the same attorneys were filing the same set of lawsuits across the US), I wrote a side article explaining “the evolution of piracy,” (an innocuous post). In that post, it occurred to me that “it would be just too terrible” if there was collusion between the movie industry and the porn industry.
A few days later, I noticed in my website’s analytics that people were rushing to view my CEG-TEK articles, and I could not figure out why (CEG-TEK was no longer sending out letter to John Doe Defendants). From there, I learned about Carl Crowell (who I previously ignored as being a nobody) and his RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT entity, which demonstrated that there was a connection between the movie industry and the porn industry.
It was then when I saw that Carl Crowell’s RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT entity represented both the mainstream movie companies (the ME2 / COOK PRODUCTIONS / I.T. PRODUCTIONS connection I was already looking for), and from my own website analytics and follow-up research, learning that RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT was also sending out notices for CEG-TEK’s old porn company clients that I made the connection that perhaps there was a relationship between the porn and movie industry.
Then I remembered the Guardaley connection years back when representing clients in the Dallas Buyers Club, LLC cases, and it occurred to me that some entity connected with Guardaley is behind both the porn-based lawsuits AND the movie-based lawsuits, but why? That is where I learned that Rightscorp (the MPAA/RIAA also joined with Carl Crowell), and the connection made sense. Through some common entity or ‘investor’, both the movie companies and the adult film companies are having their lawsuits funded. Then it occurred to me how convenient it would have been for that investor to be the MPAA/RIAA, especially considering the millions they are pouring into Rightscorp (a sinking ship), just as they spent [I believe] hundreds of millions on lawsuits for copyright infringement shortly before I started my Cashman Law Firm, PLLC in 2010.
I always wondered why all of a sudden in 2010, the MPAA/RIAA stopped filing the copyright infringement lawsuits. Now, I am starting to understand that if I am correct about the MPAA/RIAA being the entity behind the adult film lawsuits, they never did stop their activities. Rather, they just devised a clever scheme to get the porn industry to file lawsuits and blaze the trail to create case law across the US (because most pornography-based defendants do not fight back, and judges laugh when they see the explicit porn titles sued upon, and through this uncomfortable laugh, judges undermine their legal sense and allow the ‘repressed, stigma-based industry’ to proceed with protecting their rights to sue “just like everyone else.”). As a result of having the porn companies file the lawsuits across the US, IF what is unfolding ends up being true, then the MPAA/RIAA schemed to break copyright infringement law so that they can come back seven years later and start filing lawsuits, but now, with a “lower bar” and relaxed legal standards.
— CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.
NOTE: No attorney client relationship is established by sending this form, and while the attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me, I do not become your attorney until we sign a contract together. That being said, please do not state anything “incriminating” about your case when using this form, or more practically, in any e-mail.
In short, the answer is clearly NO (and I have a good reason for this answer which is not meant to scare you).
[This article is a continuation of the “WHAT DO I KNOW ABOUT RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT” article. It made sense to separate out the topics and keep them short and to the point.]
With CEG-TEK, when someone asked “what are my chances of being sued if I ignore,” I would have told you “LOW,” because CEG-TEK typically did not file lawsuits if a recipient of one of their “DMCA scare letters” was ignored. RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT IS DIFFERENT.
Because Carl Crowell (the puppet master behind the RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT site) is an active ‘copyright troll’ himself, AND BECAUSE HE HAS A TEAM OF ‘COPYRIGHT TROLLS’ ACROSS THE U.S. WHO ARE ACTIVELY SUING DEFENDANTS, I would likely suggest that the chances of being sued are “VERY HIGH.” Again, this is not to scare you, but it is based on simple logic.
— CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.
NOTE: No attorney client relationship is established by sending this form, and while the attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me, I do not become your attorney until we sign a contract together. That being said, please do not state anything “incriminating” about your case when using this form, or more practically, in any e-mail.
*IT IS NOT TOO LATE.* If the DMCA notice that you received and/or ignored or threw in the trash has expired, the copyright holders have THREE YEARS from the alleged date of infringement to file a lawsuit against you in a federal court. So there is time to solve the problem, if it has not already escalated into a lawsuit.
[This article is a continuation of the “WHAT DO I KNOW ABOUT RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT” article. It made sense to separate out the topics and keep them short and to the point.]
If the DMCA notice had a deadline which has expired, since RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT is a knock-off of the CEG-TEK system, my best guess is that following the expiration of whatever date you were given in your notice (likely 30 days), a second letter will be forwarded over to you stating that “because you did not settle, now we want $3,500 for that one title,” or whatever they are asking for. This too can be negotiated by an attorney.
NOTE: Why $3,500? Marvin Cable used to ask for $1,850, if I remember correctly, and that was back in 2012. Also, CEG-TEK’s business model was not to sue anyone, so their settlement letters lacked ‘teeth’. However, RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT settlement letters are made with an explicit threat that they will follow-up with a lawsuit against the internet subscriber of your account if you do not settle. For this reason — because their threats have ‘teeth’ — you can expect to see higher follow-up settlement amounts, akin to a settlement if a lawsuit were filed.
— CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.
NOTE: No attorney client relationship is established by sending this form, and while the attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me, I do not become your attorney until we sign a contract together. That being said, please do not state anything “incriminating” about your case when using this form, or more practically, in any e-mail.
NO. Even CEG-TEK[who now looks like an angel compared to their RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT evil twin]had trackers and issues with their website. I always told recipients of their DMCA scare letters to be very aware of what websites they visit and what trackers are embedded in those websites.
[This article is a continuation of the “WHAT DO I KNOW ABOUT RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT” article. It made sense to separate out the topics and keep them short and to the point.]
IS THERE ANY LEGAL DANGER TO LOGGING ON WITH MY CASE NUMBER AND IP ADDRESS TO THE RIGHTSENFORCEMENT.COM WEBSITE?
YES. When you log into the RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT website, *YOU CREATE A RECORD WHICH PROVES THAT YOU WERE GIVEN THE ABILITY TO SETTLE* which can later be used against you in a lawsuit if you choose not to settle, or if RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT somehow plays a game and causes your settlement to crash.
More importantly, RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT is able to track which accused internet users logged into their website using the provided Case Number and Password (here, your accused IP address). By logging in, they will create a record and a log which captures data about who is logging in (which IP address you are coming from, what computer you are logged into, what kind of computer it is, possibly what the MAC address of that computer is), how long you are logged in for, and whether or not you settle the claims against you.
BY LOGGING IN ALONE AND NOT SETTLING, accused internet users give RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT a record that they could later use if a lawsuit is filed indicating that “on XYZ date, they logged in, were offered a $XYZ settlement for the illegal download of these titles, and they chose not to settle the claims against them.”
It goes without saying that this record can be used to justify a higher settlement amount offered after the lawsuit has been filed, and it can be used to prove that the accused defendant (once sued) had a chance to settle, but chose not to settle.
In sum, for these reasons alone, if you receive a notice in your inbox (or in the mail), QUASH YOUR CURIOSITY AND DO NOT LOG INTO THE RIGHTSENFORCEMENT.COM WEBSITE. INSTEAD, CONTACT AN ATTORNEY (me, or anyone else), AND LET US HANDLE THE ISSUE FOR YOU.
WHY I AM ABLE TO SHARE THESE DETAILS WITH YOU.
The reason I already know what the issues are surrounding logging into the RIGHTENFORCEMENT.COM website is because I have already gone through years figuring it out from the CEG-TEK business RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT reverse engineered (a.k.a., ‘stole’, or ‘copied’ is likely also an accurate description).
Based on my many years of dealing with the CEG-TEK website, where CEG-TEK was only interested in stopping piracy (and making a modest profit along the way), there were barbs and traps built into their website that any sensible person would have known to stay far away from, and although we made them the villains on our website for their business model of scaring accused subscribers into settling, compared to Carl Crowell (the owner of RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT), CEG-TEK now look like angels.
You can read for yourself who Carl Crowell is, what his reputation is, and what things he has said and done to those he has already accused of copyright infringement. Let’s just say it’s worse than anything you could imagine, but my job here is to share the FACTS, not the opinions about the character of the attorneys.
For that reason, ASSUME WISELY THAT THERE ARE TRAPS AND BARBS BUILT INTO CROWELL’S RIGHTSENFORCEMENT.COM WEBSITE, AND STAY AWAY FROM IT AT ALL COSTS.
Obviously, if you want my help circumventing his traps, I already know what to look for and how to get around them.
— CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.
NOTE: No attorney client relationship is established by sending this form, and while the attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me, I do not become your attorney until we sign a contract together. That being said, please do not state anything “incriminating” about your case when using this form, or more practically, in any e-mail.
Below are a list of movies which have been gleaned from screenshots of the RIGHTSENFORCEMENT.com website (I am posting the screenshot here because it is probably a bad idea to visit the site on your own — see, “WHY DO YOU KNOW ALL THIS,” below). These movie companies have presumably signed an agreement allowing the Anti-Piracy Management Company (APMC) / Guardaley / IPP to enforce the copyrights owned by the movie company.
This means that they will send DMCA abuse / copyright violation notices to internet subscribers asking for $300 per title for the downloaded video, or (likely based on your zip code, they will use a service like Spokeo.com to estimate your net worth based on the geolocation of where you live), and they will file a “John Doe” bittorrent lawsuit suing both you and the others in your ‘bittorrent swarm’ for copyright infringement in one copyright infringement lawsuit.
NOTE: Some of these titles you no doubt already recognize from articles we have written on our site, or lawsuits they have sued for copyright infringement (downloading) of the copyrighted movie via bittorrent.
[This article is a continuation of the “WHAT DO I KNOW ABOUT RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT” article. It made sense to separate out the topics and keep them short and to the point.]
Homefront Before I Go To Sleep (Before I Go Productions, Inc. v. Does) Criminal (Criminal Productions, Inc. v. Does) London Has Fallen (LHF Productions, Inc. v. Does)
Automata (Automata Productions, Inc. v. Does) Survivor (Survivor Productions, Inc. v. Does) The Humbling Septembers Of Shiraz (September Productions, Inc. v. Does) Mechanic:Resurrection (ME2 Productions, Inc. v. Does) I.T. (I.T. Productions, LLC v. Does) Fathers and Daughters (Fathers & Daughters Nevada, LLC v. Does) Dallas Buyers Club (Dallas Buyers Club, LLC v. Does)
Cell (CELL Film Holdings, LLC v. Does) Salt And Fire Queen of the Dessert Mr. Church (Cook Productions, LLC v. Does) Close Range Pay The Ghost (PTG Nevada, Inc. v. Does) The Cobbler (Cobbler Nevada LLC v. Does) Good Kill (Clear Skies Nevada LLC v. Does)
American Heist Charlie Countryman Sniper Special Ops Life on the Line Cabin Fever Reboot Return To Sender Countdown Exeter
Blunt Force Trauma Wild Horses Breaking Through
Now I also have the list of adult film clients as well (plus a few more that CEG-TEK did not have), but I’ll post them in a different post (without the screenshots of the actual videos). 😉
In sum, now that you know which movies have been disclosed as being part of the RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT group, understand that after the RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT DMCA abuse / DMCA copyright infringement notices have been sent out, lawsuits will likely follow up with those who ignore the notices.
This is not fearmongering! — It is simply me pointing out that a number of these movies are already lawsuits in federal courts across the US in which we are already representing (or have represented) clients. It only makes sense that these other movies will also become subjects of their own lawsuits in the coming year.
— CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.
NOTE: No attorney client relationship is established by sending this form, and while the attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me, I do not become your attorney until we sign a contract together. That being said, please do not state anything “incriminating” about your case when using this form, or more practically, in any e-mail.
RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT represents EVERY movie copyright troll.
This is what I know so far about RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT (rightsenforcement.com) and the clients they are representing.
RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT is a reverse-engineered ‘evil twin’ of CEG-TEK. I assume they are even a more advanced version of CEG-TEK (2.0), where they have likely taken CEG-TEK’s system and improved it to gain insight into the accused downloaders by using unethical malware, website scripts, and even illegal methods — “anything to gain an advantage.” (I do have reasons for saying this.)
Carl Crowell is behind the company. He is a known copyright troll and is apparently the puppet master behind most of the movie-based “John Doe” copyright infringement lawsuits filed across the US by his team of local counsel.
RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT is the pre-lawsuit settlement arm of his copyright enforcement machine. This pre-lawsuit mechanism uses automated DMCA abuse / copyright infringement notices to send settlement requests directly to subscribers through their ISPs.
WHAT ISPs ARE KNOWN TO BE WORKING WITH RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT?
ISPs known to be working with RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT are:
AT&T,
CenturyLink,
Charter,
Comcast,
COX,
Frontier,
Hawaiian Telecom,
Optimum Online,
Time Warner Cable,
Verizon, and
Windstream.
RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT settlement demand letters require that accused recipients visit his rightsenforcement.com website and pay $300 per instance of infringement, per title (this can be negotiated down by an attorney).
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOUR ISP AND RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT?
UPDATES: This list of movies (copyright holders who are signing on with Carl Crowell’s copyright trolling copyright enforcement model) continues to grow. As of July, 2017, I have written about this twice already:
I have listed the list of titles in the linked article (click here) based on the the list of movies listed on the RIGHTSENFORCEMENT.com website. I even took screenshots from that website (pasted below) so that you can view the images of the movies — that way, you’ll have a ‘heads up’ to learn which lawsuits will be filed for which movies in the coming months (they are methodically going through that list).
Hint: The copyright holders are given a 3-year statute of limitations to sue individuals for copyright infringement. However, pretty quickly after your 30-day deadline expires (or however long RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT will allow you to settle before taking down the ability to settle), you will probably receive a second letter — this time addressed from one of their lawyers — indicating that “because you did not settle, now we want more money.” That second-tier settlement amount will probably be significantly higher.
Short answer: Because there are MANY ‘COPYRIGHT TROLL’ ATTORNEYS filing lawsuits across the US and working for Carl Crowell (the owner of the RIGHTS ENFORCRMENT website and likely puppet master for all of the movie-based copyright infringement lawsuits across the US), it is likely a VERY BAD IDEA to ignore this.
Short Answer: Absolutely not. Logging into Carl Crowell’s RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT website will not only create a record that you were given the chance to settle for $XYZ amount, but there are also likely trackers and barbs built into the website which can dig into your computer and determine private things, such as what IP address you are coming from, where you are physically located (based on the geolocation of your IP address), what the MAC address is of your computer, what your operating system is, etc.
***And, if you do not have your javascript off and Adobe Flash capability turned off, RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT can dig deeper into your computer to determine what files you have installed on your computer, what software programs you have installed on your machine (e.g., do you have bittorrent installed?), and their website can run scripts (akin to apps or mini-programs) in your browser to reveal many other private things about you.
WHY DO YOU KNOW ALL THIS?
RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT is a reverse-engineered clone of the CEG-TEK website and DMCA abuse / copyright violation system. I spent close to FIVE YEARS digging deep into the mechanics of their website, learning what tricks or systems were put in place, and I am generally knowledgeable about privacy and anonymity to the point that would make even someone wearing a tin hat cower in a corner.
What makes me good at this is because I understand not only what CEG-TEK did with their website, but I also understand how their system can be misused, and I have every expectation that the RIGHTSENFORCEMENT.COM website will be an improved version of the CEG-TEK website, complete with advanced tracking, and malicious scripts and content to provide the attorneys evidence against you which they will use to gain an advantage over you.
Plus, this is all fun for me (I am not a hacker), but I enjoy uncovering what pitfalls the bad guys have set up on their sites, and how to get around those pitfalls in a way that keeps my clients anonymous, that protects their wallet, their credit cards, and their peace of mind, and that keeps them legally out of trouble.
— CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.
NOTE: No attorney client relationship is established by sending this form, and while the attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me, I do not become your attorney until we sign a contract together. That being said, please do not state anything “incriminating” about your case when using this form, or more practically, in any e-mail.
In that article, I suggested in a joking, conspiratorial way that “it was probably the plan of the MPAA / RIAA movie industry to sit back and let the porn industry file lawsuits across the US.”
Why? Because what individual “John Doe” defendant accused of downloading pornography would destroy their reputation by fighting back against those lawsuits? What individual would allow his reputation to be destroyed where by doing so, he would allow the porn companies to expose that not only did he downloaded porn, but they would expose his personal sexual addictions and sexual preferences (and sometimes based on the title of the infringed video, his secret fetishes) to the public record for all to see?? Thus, the porn cases were a perfect test subject to blaze the courts to create new case law on copyright infringement cases using bittorrent, because accused defendants as a general rule would not fight back.
At first, I gave the movie industry the benefit of the doubt that they were separate and apart from the porn lawsuits, namely, that they were merely sitting back and watching the lawsuits while the porn companies made case law for them. I even referred to them as “the Sleeping Dog.” When there was a good ruling, they would say nothing, and when there was a bad ruling, they would write articles and scream, “the evil porn companies are ruining the copyright laws for all of us!”
MPAA/RIAA “HYPOCRITES”
A while ago, I started noticing that the same Guardaley entity that was filing the porn lawsuits were also filing the movie lawsuits. Specifically, I heard about this when representing clients accused of downloading the Dallas Buyers Club movie, but I could not believe that legitimate movie companies were the same corporate entities behind the scenes as those who were filing porn lawsuits — it just didn’t make sense to me.
But now I’m learning that the same Guardaley / IPP / Anti-Piracy Management Company (APMC) entity that is behind the Malibu Media, LLC lawsuits across the US appears to be the same entity who is also filing lawsuits for legitimate movies. For example, I am told that Paul Nicoletti filed cases for both Voltage Pictures, Inc. and for Malibu Media, LLC. Same attorney, same clients… but this is not my evidence.
(NOTE: In a previous version of this article in the above paragraph, I used the example of Keith Vogt filing for both Dallas Buyers Club and Malibu Media, LLC. This was in error. However, I used his lawsuits to show how the same attorney was filing for both movie companies who have been known to license the rights to enforce copyrights and for the adult-film Malibu Media, LLC client, both Guardaley-linked. Remember, there was a point that I believed that Voltage Pictures was that Guardaley-linked movie company, however, I’m told they were sold so they are not likely the ones behind the movie lawsuits.)
We also recently learned that Carl Crowell is now having ISPs send out DMCA notices demanding $300 settlements for each instance ofinfringement; he is sending the accused subscribers to his RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT website (RIGHTSENFORCEMENT.com) in order to facilitate the payment of these settlement demands under a threat that if they do not pay him, he will file a lawsuit to uncover their real identity so that he can sue them for copyright infringement (statutory damages of $150,000) under the copyright laws.
I can now confirm based on the search engine searches that are coming to my website that the nature of the DMCA notices are for pornographic films allegedly downloaded by bittorrent. Further, I compared some of those names of the porn companies, and it not only seems as if RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT is a knock-off of CEG-TEK’s DMCA notice system, but that Crowell has also ‘stolen’ the clients of CEG-TEK. I know this because the titles of the alleged infringing adult films correlate almost exactly to CEG-TEK’s client list, as I exposed them in 2014.
Then, to make the connection even stronger, I recently learned that Carl Crowell (the apparent puppet master behind all of the Guardaley-based ‘John Doe’ movie lawsuits across the US) is also in contract with RightsCorp, who has been sending notices to Internet Subscribers the same was CEG-TEK used to, but their methods of tracking and harassing defendants is different from CEG-TEK’s. At one time, I was even so certain of the differences between them [based on how they operated and knowing the fight that CEG-TEK used to have with the Guardaley entity in their bittorrent tracking methods] that I wrote an article claiming that “CEG-TEK and RightsCorp are different animals.” Point being, at the time, I did not understand the nature of RightsCorp (they were always the bastard child of the copyright infringement issues), but all I knew at the time were that those at Rightscorp were spending millions of dollars on a failing business model, and because they were so loudly representing the MPAA/RIAA in this failing venture, I never thought to look whether the porn industry lawsuits and the traditional movie lawsuits were somehow related.
Well, zoom to 2017, and now we learn that the entity behind RightsCorp is also working with Carl Crowell to enforce their copyrights claiming infringement for the download of network TV shows, and most frequently, music downloaded via bittorrent.
“It would be a huge scandal if one set of masters [MPAA/RIAA] planned the pornography-based bittorrent ‘copyright troll’ lawsuits for the purpose of later giving credibility to real-movie lawsuits when they stepped in place of the porn lawsuits and made the same filings… I don’t want to connect the dots because I do not want to notice that perhaps the same entities behind the Dallas Buyers Club, LLC movies were the same entities behind the Patrick Collins… Malibu Media, LLC cases. THAT WOULD BE JUST TOO HORRIBLE.” (emphasis added)
Well, as the veil of secrecy is unraveling between the porn industry and the movie / radio industry, we are seeing that these apparently separate entities are not only in cahoots with one another, but that they are all using ONE AND THE SAME ENTITY (Guardaley) to commit fraud upon the US copyright law system.
“NO, HE DID NOT JUST SCREAM FRAUD.” Yes, I did. Here is why.
In my understanding, having the movie industry (MPAA/RIAA) collude with the porn industry and PLAN to have the porn cases blaze through the courts (where those defendants as a general rule do not fight back) and create what we now call “bittorrent law,” only to NOW have the mainstream media step back in and file those same lawsuits using the porn cases as “case law” to legally support their movie-based bittorrent lawsuits, well, that’s a scam. Why? BECAUSE THE MPAA/RIAA BROKE COPYRIGHT LAW BY USING PORNOGRAPHY CASES TO CREATE THE LAW TO SUPPORT THE CASES THEY ARE NOW FILING.
“But haven’t the porn cases also created ‘bad law’ for the movie companies?” You might think so, and in some courts, the answer is absolutely, yes. But let’s look at the developments of what is now considered “normal” in a bittorrent-based copyright infringement lawsuit BECAUSE OF the porn-based copyright infringement lawsuits.
WHAT IS NOW CONSIDERED ‘NORMAL’ IN A COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LAWSUIT
1) Judges now regularly rubber-stamp “expedited discovery” requests allowing copyright holders to send subpoenas to internet providers, forcing the ISPs to unclothe the identities of the account holders who are accused of copyright infringement. These identities are provided directly to the plaintiffs (not to the court) to allow the plaintiff attorney to use and misuse that sensitive and private information.
2) Judges allow the copyright holders to solicit settlements, sometimes in the amounts of thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, with ABSOLUTELY NO OVERSIGHT of the plaintiff attorney’s activities, or how many settlements that attorney has brought in for his client.
3) Judges regularly pretend that bittorrent-based cases are ‘regular’ copyright infringement lawsuits, but they ignore the fact that bittorrent-based copyright holders have CONSISTENTLY FAILED TO STATE A CLAIM with any certainty that the account holder is the accused “John Doe” Defendant, when at best, this is at most a circumstantial connection which is not researched by the judge or the plaintiff attorney before the judge allows the lawsuit to proceed. According to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, “failure to state a claim” SHOULD prevent the case from proceeding. The plaintiff copyright holders do not have the evidence to proceed with a lawsuit, yet judges close their eyes to this fact and allow them to proceed anyway.
In sum, the pornography cases have caused judges to fudge (think, “run their finger through melted chocolate”) what used to be firm principles of copyright infringement law, and because of the porn cases, the result is that judges now regularly allow copyright holders to get away with things that in the past, would have barred them from filing the lawsuit or getting access to the identities of John Doe Defendants in the first place.
And if this was their plan all along, well, that’s just too horrible…
Honestly, judges should reverse and overrule practices and case law established by the porn-based lawsuits, and they should revert to holding movie companies (AND porn companies) to the standard of law they used to adhere to before the mass onslaught of cases began to burden the courts from 2010 and on. In my opinion, bittorrent cases are nothing but sloppy copyright cases, and judges use sloppy law to allow copyright holders to abuse the copyright system and extort millions of hard-earned dollars from the public. Years from now, people will look back and wonder how judges allowed these lawsuits to proceed.
MY FINAL POINT
I started the Cashman Law Firm, PLLC in 2010, just as the MPAA/RIAA lawsuits became quiet. I always wondered where they went, and why they stopped suing defendants. Now I am starting to understand that they never did stop their activities; rather, they just devised a clever scheme to get the porn industry to file lawsuits and blaze the trail to create case law across the US (because most pornography-based defendants do not fight back, and judges laugh when they see the titles sued upon, they undermine their legal sense and allow the ‘repressed, stigma-based industry to proceed with protecting their rights to sue “just like everyone else.”). As a result of having the porn companies file the lawsuits across the US, what is unfolding to be the MPAA/RIAA plan broke copyright infringement law so that they can come back seven years later and start filing lawsuits, but now, with a “lower bar” and relaxed legal standards.
— CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.
NOTE: No attorney client relationship is established by sending this form, and while the attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me, I do not become your attorney until we sign a contract together. That being said, please do not state anything “incriminating” about your case when using this form, or more practically, in any e-mail.
I have been watching the analytics of this website, and as you know, I noticed a spike in individuals looking for help with the DMCA notices they received from an entity called RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT (a.k.a. “RIGHTSENFORCEMENT”).
Until now, because the only copyright enforcement company using DMCA settlement notices has been CEG-TEK (RightsCorp too, but they are a different animal), mistakenly, those who have come to this site have viewed the CEG-TEK articles. I have done some extensive research to figure out exactly who RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT is, how they got a hold of CEG-TEK’s proprietary software, and what to expect from them.
RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT IS A REVERSE-ENGINEERED CLONE OF CEG-TEK
RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT is a reverse-engineered clone of CEG-TEK. They have taken and have copied all of the methodologies of CEG-TEK, and they have created a mirror entity which does exactly what CEG-TEK did. They have (I understand by brute force) convinced the ISPs to forward their DMCA settlement demand letters to subscribers, and when a subscriber receives a DMCA notice, they are directed to pay a settlement or be sued.
ISPs forwarding the copyright infringement notices for this scheme fall into three categories.
Those ISPs that I believe are being forced or bullied by Carl Crowell to participate in the scheme who were formerly hostile to this method of copyright enforcement;
Those ISPs that were part of the Six Strikes System, but willingly participated in the bittorrent-based lawsuits; and
Those ISPs who willingly worked with CEG-TEK to forward the DMCA copyright infringement notices for them, and now are forwarding the notices for Crowell.
CATEGORY 2) Optimum Online, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon, and
CATEGORY 3) CenturyLink, Charter, and sometimes Comcast (at times) and COX (yes, I listed them twice on purpose).
CARL CROWELL IS THE NEW “KEITH LIPSCOMB” MASTERMIND BEHIND ALL GUARDALEY-BASED LAWSUITS.
Carl Crowell is the mastermind behind RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT, just as he is the mastermind behind all of the Guardaley lawsuits (pornography based AND movie-based). To understand who he is, he is equivalent to the ‘kingpin’ role that Keith Lipscomb had in directing all of the Malibu Media, LLC lawsuits (and formerly all of their other pornography-based lawsuits, e.g., Patrick Collins, K-Beech, NuCorp, etc.).
The interesting piece of information that people likely haven’t pieced together yet is when the relationship between Lipscomb and Malibu Media broke apart, so did the relationship with Lipscomb and Guardaley. If you time this, you’ll probably find that around the same time the relationship between Lipscomb and Malibu soured is the same time Carl Crowell ‘came to power’, so to speak and started filing all of the bittorrent-based lawsuits [backed by Guardaley].
***KEEP READING*** (SCROLL DOWN UNDER THE CONTACT FORM TO CONTINUE READING). — CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.
RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT IS CEG-TEK’S ‘EVIL TWIN.’
So CEG-TEK (which at this moment is in a dormant state, but is still watching what is going on) is not RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT. RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT is an ‘evil twin’, so to speak of what CEG-TEK tried to be.
RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT USES FAR MORE AGGRESSIVE TRACKING METHODOLOGIES (WITH FAR MORE FALSE-POSITIVES).
The big difference between CEG-TEK’s bittorrent tracking methodologies and RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT‘s tracking methodologies will be the way someone is caught (and I am basing this on what I know about CEG-TEK’s vs. Guardaley’s tracking methods, because they were always competitors for the same copyright holder ‘copyright troll’ production companies).
CEG-TEK always waited until they could prove that the download actually happened.
Guardaley (and thus, RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT) ‘catches’ a downloader as soon as he clicks on a bittorrent file and joins a bittorrent swarm (before even a byte of data is transferred).
Thus, someone could technically get sued or accused of copyright infringement with Guardaley for a download they did not commit. They may have visited the bittorrent website. They may have clicked on the file, but that file never needed to download in order for Guardaley to sue that individual for copyright infringement.
WHY RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT WILL BE A MONSTER.
So in essence, RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT will be a monster. It’ll be an evil version of what CEG-TEK strove to become (CEG-TEK’s goal was always to discourage piracy, and they succeeded in their goal which is what made it not profitable for them).
RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT will likely accuse ISP subscribers of downloading multiple copyrighted files (asking for $300 per title), when the accused downloader merely clicked on a bittorrent file. This will be true even if he later changed his mind and decided not to download the file, whether he waited in the queue and never got the opportunity to download the bittorent file, or whether he clicked on a bittorrent file, but only decided to download one or more files in a bittorrent file that contained many files for download. Worse, if he clicks on a siterip (something Malibu Media, LLC / Guardaley) almost always ‘dings’ a defendant for, no doubt RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT will ask for settlements for each and every file in that siterip.
WHY CARL CROWELL WILL TURN RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT ‘EVIL’.
To make matters worse, Carl Crowell has a reputation that precedes him. Where CEG-TEK would give deference to an individual who made a mistake, or who didn’t realize the gravity of what he/she did, or if that individual was a war veteran or an elderly lady or gentleman, these considerations reportedly mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to Carl Crowell. Rather, people have referred to him as a bully, and in order to deal with a bully, you need to stand up and fight if needed.
In sum, this is why I am predicting that RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT will be a monster.
HOW WE WILL HELP TAKE DOWN ‘RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT’
As I mentioned before, expect Carl Crowell (and anyone working under him) to be a bully. As such, the only way to fight a bully is to punch him in the face. Now since it does a client of our firm no good if I ‘punch him,’ so to speak, the only way to handle a bully entity (as I am sure RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT will become) is to be willing to step away from a negotiation, file a lawsuit, and perhaps even proactively file a declaratory judgement action for non-infringement. For copyright matters, this can be done in any federal court in any state (although Crowell has already had some issues with judges in his own state, so perhaps that is a good place to start).
I will take clients for both settlements (these will be anonymous just as a CEG-TEK matter would be since Crowell will not know who you are when he sends the DMCA copyright infringement notice to you), and for the explicit purpose of filing lawsuits (and defending lawsuits filed) by him and his local attorneys in the various states’ federal courts.
There will essentially be three kinds of clients:
GROUP 1) Clients with matters small enough that we can resolve them anonymously with no, some, or aggressive negotiation.
GROUP 2) Clients with matters to large to settle (e.g., they are faced with an unreasonable settlement demand, or RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT is unwilling to negotiate a matter). For these clients we will defend the lawsuit when the client is sued (again, it does not matter in which court this happens), or we will proactively file a declaratory judgement action to obtain a ruling that these clients were not guilty of copyright infringement.
GROUP 3) Clients who want to skip all settlement negotiations and fight this matter in court. As I mentioned, many individuals will get accused of downloading titles they simply did not download (or, that perhaps they clicked on, but did not download). For these people who are willing to fight, we’ll skip settlement negotiations and go straight to the lawsuit.
In sum, I am willing to dedicate a significant amount of our firm’s resources to shutting this guy down. From what I understand, this Carl Crowell guy is another John Steele bully, and if he runs his RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT the way he’s been handling his lawsuits, I will be sure to help clients either proactively attack the claims against them, or in the alternative, I will help them get out of his way with an anonymous settlement.
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