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Rightscorp is a key provider of evidence in several multi-million dollar piracy lawsuits and a trusted anti-piracy partner of the RIAA. However, the evidence provided by Rightscorp is not without controversy. The company itself is also in trouble, as the state of Delaware annulled its corporate status after failing to pay more than $ 450,000 in taxes.
With the backing of the RIAA, several major music industry companies have taken some of the largest US Internet providers to court.
Music companies accuse these providers of failing to terminate the accounts of the most heinous pirates by ignoring millions of notices of copyright infringement. To make them complete, the labels demand hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.
This has already resulted in a huge windfall in the case against Cox, where a jury awarded billion dollars in damages. The same music companies now hope to get the same result against and RCN, Letter, Bright house, Y Great communications.
Rightscorp evidence
Many of these lawsuits center on evidence from the anti-piracy organization Rightscorp. The Delaware company collected settlements from US Internet subscribers over several years, but struggled to make a profit.
Targeting suspected hackers directly wasn't a great business model, so Rightscorp began to focus on ISPs. They encouraged the RIAA to take legal action against the ISPs and offered his data as evidence, in exchange for a significant injection of cash.
So far, the RIAA and Rightscorp have already had quite a few successes, but there have also been many setbacks. Several ISPs doubt the accuracy of Rightscorp's tests. This includes RCN, which once again voiced its criticisms in court a few days ago.
"RCN contends that Plaintiffs and Rightscorp engaged in illegal, unfair and fraudulent business practices by flooding RCN with illegitimate copyright complaints and destroying the evidence on which those complaints were apparently based," RCN wrote.
RCN wants access to Rightscorp's database
These claims are part of RCN's defense, which has been ongoing for a while. To back up these allegations, the ISP requested access to Rightscorp's evidence databases. This should reveal whether the evidence is sufficiently reliable and accurate.
This access request was submitted months ago, but little progress has been made so far. After several comings and goings, Rightscorp's attorney notified the ISP in September that it would not allow full access to the evidence database. Instead, it offered to allow access to a more limited database.
"Rightscorp refused to provide access to its databases and instead offered to create a new database, solely for the purposes of this litigation and containing only data that Rightscorp deems relevant to RCN," the ISP informed the court. .
The above quote is from a recent court filing in which RNC requests an order to compel Rightscorp to open its database for inspection. This is a reasonable request, argues the ISP, especially since the RIAA is using this evidence to demand more than $ 200 million in damages.
The court filing also calls into question Rightscorp's reputation. RCN notes that in a related lawsuit, a federal court ruled that the company had intentionally destroyed the source code of its piracy tracking system.
Voided corporate status in Delaware
It is not clear why Rightscorp does not want to open its database for inspection. RCN says it has no idea either, but the ISP openly speculates that there may be some internal problems.
It turns out that the state of Delaware, where Rightscorp is incorporated, annulled the company's corporate status after it failed to pay taxes.
"It may be related to the fact that Rightscorp appears to lack corporate powers because its corporate status is null in Delaware for not paying more than $ 450,000 in franchise taxes," writes RCN.
This is a serious problem, as it would be a criminal offense for Rightscorp to exercise its corporate powers before the issues are resolved. Also, now another company can take over the Rightscorp name, if it so chooses.
License revoked in California
The problem is not limited to Delaware, either. Rightscorp also did not file its annual returns in California, the state from which it operates. As a result, your license to conduct business has been revoked.
These issues could eventually be solved down the road, but it certainly doesn't instill confidence. The same is true for the non-www version of Rightscorp website, which still broken after several months.
Whatever the reasons, RCN is requesting the court to issue an order allowing the ISP to review the evidence database uncensored, requesting an oral hearing on the matter.
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A copy of the RCN application, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, is located rightscorp-corporate-state
