More People Calling US Copyright Group's Bluff

Mass copyright lawsuit filer US Copyright Group (really, DC law firm Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver) has been claiming for a while that it really, really was going to file lawsuits against the thousands of folks they've sued in the specific jurisdictions where they're located -- though many have questioned whether or not it would really do this, since it would be quite expensive and DGW is a tiny, tiny law firm. More importantly, as has been seen elsewhere, the business model of "pay us or we'll sue," doesn't work so well if you actually have to sue people. After it was more or less required to drop thousands of the lawsuits for individuals not in Washington DC, we wondered if the company would live up to its promise to refile the lawsuits elsewhere. Thomas Dunlap told some reporters that those lawsuits would be refiled last week. But that didn't happen. So, it seems like more people are believing it's all a bluff. Dunlap has backed down and said that they'll be rolling out the refiles much more slowly -- meaning it's probably still desperately seeking regional law firms to handle a few "example" cases, but may be having more trouble finding them than it thought. I wonder if the regional law firms it's been approaching have noticed how much damage has been done to the reputation of any lawyers who get involved in these sorts of "pay up or we'll sue" shakedowns. In the end, I don't doubt that a few more regional lawsuits will be filed. Dunlap/USCG wants to have its "demo" cases it can point to, so that people will pay up, but it's increasingly sounding like the vast majority of those originally sued will not see those cases go anywhere.

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Teri Hatcher Lauren Bush Natalie Zea Brody Dalle