[rpg.314]

http://techdirt.com/articles/20100528/1044069619.shtml

Thomas Dunlap, the lawyer running this under the name US Copyright Group, isn't looking to take any of these lawsuits to court. The whole point is to find out who these people are and to send them legal nastygrams, that come very close to your garden variety extortion letter -- telling people that they'll drop the lawsuit if they just pay $1,500. It comes across as a classic "protection racket." "Pay up and you won't get hurt."

These guys don't make anything, don't own any copyrights, but sue people left right and center and sell them blessings of MPAA/RIAA for a cut. Professional sue-rs, eh?

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

There's one company in the UK doing this scam (two others dropped out due to bad publicity). It's called "speculative invoicing" and it's basically the sending of intimidating letters and threats of expensive legal action. They won't go to court as that will kill off the stream of scared/ignorant people who will pay up, so all you have to do is keep denying everything and refusing to pay or give out any info, and things eventually go away.