Comcast Threatens to Sue TorrentFreak for Copyright Infringement

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By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2013-08-21 15:55:50 UTC

Comcast has threatened to sue technology blog TorrentFreak for copyright infringement over the site's reporting of a case involving Prenda Law, an infamous copyright troll law firm.

Through a brand protection company called Cyveillance, Comcast sent a cease and desist letter to TorrentFreak on Monday, claiming copyright over a document the company filed in court last week.

See also: How U.S. Copyright Law Holds Back Tech Researchers

The site published a story last week, reporting that Prenda Law was running a honeypot website — a site containing links to copyrighted material — in an effort to lure would-be copyright infringers to download the files, making them easy targets of a lawsuit.

The story included a document from Comcast (.PDF), which confirmed the allegation.

The letter argued that the site illegally used Comcast's intellectual property, but didn't specify details of the actual infringement.

In response to Torrentfreak's inquiry about the issue, Cyveillance responded: "The thing that we would like you to remove from you post is the copy of the subpoena form that contains Comcast subscriber’s information, the rest of the post can stay."

As The Washington Post notes, this is a rather unusual request, since court records are public. The document in question can be found on PACER, the public website where judicial documents are available for anyone to download.

When TorrentFreak made this assertion, Cyveillance told Torrentfreak that Comcast had ordered them to "hold off on working on the removal of the post in question."

TorrentFreak's hosting company though, LeaseWeb, received the same cease and desist letter, and LeaseWeb informed TorrentFreak on Tuesday that the site's IP address would be blocked if the issue wasn't solved within 24 hours.

Next steps are unclear, as Cyveillance has not responded to TorrentFreak's latest emails asking for the issue to be solved. TorrentFreak said that while they don't like to report on "internal issues," they believed this was important to make public.

"We believe this copyright claim is a matter of interest and one the public should be aware of," TorrentFreak added. "We hope that Comcast can clarify its stance eventually, and that our server remains online in the meantime."

Image: Tim Boyle/Getty Images

Topics: cease & desist, comcast, copyright, First Amendment, torrentfreak, U.S., US & World, World