ACS:Law returns demanding £1,655 from file sharers

ACS:Law appears to be up to its old tricks after sending letters to alleged file sharers outside the UK demanding payments of over £1,000.

The firm was declared bankrupt in June but emails seen by V3 sent to two clients of law firm Ralli Solicitors, purporting to come from ACS:Law, demand significant payments for alleged file sharing on works owned by a company called DigiProtect.

"Our client is in possession of evidence that all or part of various movies and music were made available from your IP address [redacted] at numerous times over the past three years," it reads.

"Owing to the damage that file sharing is causing our client's business, our client is left with no option but to adopt a policy of enforcing it's [sic] rights in an attempt to stem the wholesale misappropriation of it's [sic] property."

The letter goes on to demand £1,500 in damages, plus costs to the affected internet service provider (ISP) of £165, making a total of £1,655.

V3 emailed ACS:Law chief Andrew Crossley and attempted to contact the company, but had received no response at the time of publication.

Ralli solicitor Michael Forrester confirmed that the IP addresses in the email were not of UK origin, but said that details are hazy as to how or why the clients had been contacted.

"The IP addresses quoted do not appear conventional, making reference to country codes outside the UK. Despite this, the letters of claim refer to UK law under the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988," he said.

"The recipients of the emails do not know how their email addresses have been obtained, nor why it is alleged that they have infringed copyright. Normally an ISP would not release its customers' contact details without a court order. We have no information about a relevant court order in these cases."