INTERACT FORUM
More => Music, Movies, Politics, and Other Cheap Thrills => Topic started by: glynor on December 16, 2014, 10:13:49 am
-
Wow, Jim... I had no idea you'd had a run-in with epic douchenozzle Paul Hansmeier (http://www.popehat.com/tag/prenda-law/)! Nice to see you mentioned on Ars (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/copyright-troll-paul-hansmeier-now-sues-small-businesses-over-ada-violations/), though...
Minneapolis artist Jim Hillegass told the newspaper he settled a Hansmeier lawsuit for $8,000, even though he didn't believe he was in violation, either.
"It's hopeless," Hillegass said. "The law is written in such a way that it allows attorneys to do this."
I hate that you had to give that jerk money, helping to fund him extorting money out of other people in the process. Keep your eyes open, though. The last big trolling operation that guy did famously blew up in his face, of course, and now it looks like this one is starting down that road too. You could end up getting some of that big check back.
-
Hopefully Jim was able to give him a couple of lifetime licenses to JRiver that were worth $8,000.
-
Luckily, during the process, I discovered that Paul hadn't registered a domain, so I did it for him.
www.paulhansmeier.com
-
Hopefully Jim was able to give him a couple of lifetime licenses to JRiver that were worth $8,000.
I think you may have read that backwards.
TLDR Backstory:
Paul Hansmeier is (or was) one of the primary forces behind Prenda Law, which was one of the most aggressive (and disgusting) of the porn-copyright trolling lawsuit "organizations" out there over the past couple years. Their basic modus operandi was to send letters to people who may (or may not have, they didn't try to find out basically at all) have downloaded porn illicitly, threatening to sue them and tell their neighbors all the horrible porn things they were downloading, and said if you pay us $3k now, we'll go away quietly.
Extortion, basically. Their game backfired quite famously (http://www.popehat.com/2013/05/06/does-prenda-believe-in-no-win-scenarios-because-judge-wright-just-gave-them-one/). Prenda Law is defunct, and they personally owe all kinds of penalties for all sorts of bad behavior (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/appeals-court-shell-game-over-prenda-law-must-pay-sanctions-in-full/). Of course, the $4.4M+ they collected with their extortion racket is all vanished. So it goes.
Now that the free porn-threatening ride is over, it seems Paul has moved on to suing small businesses (well, not actually suing, as that would cost money, just threatening to sue) who may or may not have ADA violations, on behalf of disabled "complainants" who, in at least one case, had no idea this was going on. New extortion racket, different name and target.
So...
This douchenozzle didn't pay Jim anything. We don't know what happened, of course, and I'm sure Jim can't comment (and can delete this thread if you want -- I'm just an unrelated commenter), but one can assume from the reporting that Jim paid this douchenozzle $8k for the privilege of being left alone. That's horrible, but sadly not surprising. That's exactly the problem with these "companies" (which are, in my opinion, a hop-skip-and-a-jump from organized crime style racketeering)... What was his choice? Spend 10X as much defending himself against a lawsuit he'd almost certainly win in the end?
Not many people can do that. When they did with this character in the past, it ended up blowing up the whole operation. That's great, but the people in those cases took huge risks (and had, largely, pro bono defenses). Not everyone can afford to do that.
Also, I'll add, since they've threatened litigious action for stuff like this before: I don't work for JRiver and do not represent them. Any statements I've made here are my own opinion based on following the cases very closely, but I'm not a lawyer, and I'm mostly talking out of my lower extremities. Still, in my opinion, this guy is a douchenozzle and assclown and deserves everything he got from the courts recently. I hope these latest exploits lead to more trouble for him in the end.
-
Luckily, during the process, I discovered that Paul hadn't registered a domain, so I did it for him.
www.paulhansmeier.com
LOL...
very good.
-
This douchenozzle didn't pay Jim anything. We don't know what happened, of course, and I'm sure Jim can't comment (and can delete this thread if you want -- I'm just an unrelated commenter), but one can assume from the reporting that Jim paid this douchenozzle $8k for the privilege of being left alone.
I think thats how we all understood it, and mojave was just hoping he could pay him in licenses. ;)
-
I think thats how we all understood it, and mojave was just hoping he could pay him in licenses. ;)
Oooohhhh. That makes more sense.
I read the comment over and over and over, and couldn't figure it out.
-
I did pay him $8,000, or rather his "client", Eric Wong. I also paid about $4,000 in legal fees, and $6,000 to build a ramp. Pure fun.
-
http://www.startribune.com/trustee-says-minneapolis-lawyer-s-bankruptcy-filed-in-bad-faith/350624281/
-
Aww. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/12/judge-prenda-lawyer-must-sell-condo-liquidate-assets-to-pay-2-5m-debt/):
A federal judge in Minnesota has ordered one of the men behind the notorious Prenda Law group to liquidate his assets. Paul Hansmeier must now sell his condominium, among other assets, in order to pay back $2.5 million of debts more quickly rather than having the case drag out for years.
The wheels of justice grind slowly. But they do grind, and they're unstoppable once started.
-
The legal system is in a mess indeed. How can these creatures get away with this - very frustrating and painful experience to go through I'm sure. Puts some perspective on the US system. Good luck.
-
There is justice in the world:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160913/17090435512/prendas-paul-hansmeier-loses-his-law-license-wont-be-filing-bogus-ada-lawsuits-now.shtml (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160913/17090435512/prendas-paul-hansmeier-loses-his-law-license-wont-be-filing-bogus-ada-lawsuits-now.shtml)
-
Amazing. I didn't think it would ever happen.
I think I'll send him a sympathy card.
-
The wheels of justice are turning.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161216/14262736298/team-prenda-finally-goes-to-jail-hansmeier-steele-indicted-arrested.shtml (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161216/14262736298/team-prenda-finally-goes-to-jail-hansmeier-steele-indicted-arrested.shtml)
-
Paul Hansmeier is (or was) one of the primary forces behind Prenda Law, which was one of the most aggressive (and disgusting) of the porn-copyright trolling lawsuit "organizations" out there over the past couple years. Their basic modus operandi was to send letters to people who may (or may not have, they didn't try to find out basically at all) have downloaded porn illicitly, threatening to sue them and tell their neighbors all the horrible porn things they were downloading, and said if you pay us $3k now, we'll go away quietly.
Not to make light of Jim's situation (which sucks)... tell my neighbours I download porn. I'll wear it as a badge of honour ;D
-
And the noose gets tighter...
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161229/09422836365/prendas-paul-hansmeier-now-under-fbi-investigation-his-ada-lawsuits.shtml (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161229/09422836365/prendas-paul-hansmeier-now-under-fbi-investigation-his-ada-lawsuits.shtml)
-
Steele pleads guilty and is now ratting out on Hansmeier:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170306/16355436855/prendas-john-steele-pleads-guilty-admits-to-basically-everything.shtml (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170306/16355436855/prendas-john-steele-pleads-guilty-admits-to-basically-everything.shtml)
-
Alas, poor Hansmeier, I knew him well.
-
They even made the news here in Australia (http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/piracy/lawyer-pleads-guilty-for-role-in-multimillion-dollar-copyright-infringement-settlements-scam/news-story/29b96fcfab466fe72d31489129b57226) this week
-
Steele has been disbarred and still the wheels of justice carry on:
https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-attorney-john-steele-disbarred-by-illinois-supreme-court-170522/ (https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-attorney-john-steele-disbarred-by-illinois-supreme-court-170522/)
-
Hansmeier struggles to avoid prosecution. It doesn't sound like the fed will fold easily (or at all).
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170606/09220537526/government-knocks-hansmeiers-attempt-to-talk-court-out-federal-prosecution.shtml (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170606/09220537526/government-knocks-hansmeiers-attempt-to-talk-court-out-federal-prosecution.shtml)
-
Hansmeier Guilty:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180817/15503740451/prenda-scam-boss-paul-hansmeier-pleads-guilty.shtml (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180817/15503740451/prenda-scam-boss-paul-hansmeier-pleads-guilty.shtml)
-
I love it when karma catches up to people like Paul.
-
We finally get close to sentencing. Prosecution is pushing for 150 months:
https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-wants-copyright-troll-lawyer-in-prison-for-12-5-years-190328/ (https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-wants-copyright-troll-lawyer-in-prison-for-12-5-years-190328/)
-
You know (or should) you've done wrong when the prosecution wants 150 months and the Judge does 168!
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48662813?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology&link_location=live-reporting-story (https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48662813?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology&link_location=live-reporting-story)
-
Final chapter in the Prenda saga
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48950503 (https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48950503)
-
He should have to pay anyone back that as forced to give him money. And shove him in a wheelchair ramp that has "pirated porn" playing non stop
-
He went bankrupt, too. He tried to hide assets in his wife's name.