Prenda lawyers miss sanctions deadline

$US1k per day extra penalty - each

Lawyers ordered to pay more than $US81,000 in the Prenda Law copyright trolling smackdown are now racking up new liabilities at the rate of $US1,000 a day.

The four had been sanctioned by Judge Otis Wright when their legal strategy finally came unstuck earlier this month. As part of that judgement, the four were required to make the payment to cover the legal fees of the individuals they'd targeted for their copyright infringement notices.

Readers will recall that the Prenda modus operandi was to file complaints against IP addresses identified downloading pornography using BitTorrent, with recipients threatened with exposure if they didn't pay up. Judge Wright's original judgment said their model was “based on deception”.

The lawyers now facing the daily sting are John Steel, Paul Hansmeier, Paul Duffy and Brett Gibbs. As Ars writes, the four were trying to have Judge Wright's sanctions order stayed at the last minute. That brought them back in front of Judge Wright who refused their request – and because of the delay, the four are now in breach of the original order.

To remind them that he's serious, Judge Wright has stung each of them, and any other entity that's in breach of the original order, $US1,000 until they either pay the fee or post a bond for the same amount. The judge has also warned that “failure to comply will result in additional sanctions”. ®