John Steele and Keith Lipscomb obtained thousands of names using this loophole in the Miami-Dade county court years ago. In addition to this abuse-prone law, clueless judges, underfunded staff and lack of transparency make local courts a perfect breeding ground for the vermin. Trolls love local courts and always seek to take advantage of specific state loopholes: some tried to exploit a similar antiquated law in Pennsylvania, others attempted to masquerade copyright infringement claims as trademark ones in Oregon. The most infamous instances of local court abuses happened in Illinois.

We thought that the exploitation of this ancient law by the by copyright trolls is in the past: seemingly, the gullibility of judges in the Miami-Dade court was exhausted. Publicity also played its role. Alas, the cockroaches are very difficult to get rid of: they tend to move to other grounds when there is too much light.

As attorney Leonard French reports, Pure Bill of Discovery is currently being abused in another Florida local court — Brevard county court.

Since this lawsuit was hidden from the public eye in a county court, we didn’t know about it for more than a year! Only last week, after ISPs started warning their customers of the impending release of their names to the troll, we became aware of this case.

The plaintiff is Canal Street Films — yet another failed movie producer who agreed to participate in this travesty to compensate for deservedly poor sales (“Scary or Die“). The scam is run by Alec D. Russell, an attorney employed by a large firm GrayRobinson. It is estimated that 150 victims will soon start receiving deceitful mailings, in which Mr. Russell will make hollow threats that if the recipient won’t part with his hard-earned money, a lawsuit will be filed in a federal court.

So, a clueless judge ordered ISPs to cough up personally identified information entrusted to them by their customers. In the past ISPs stood up for what is right (although on rather rare occasions), it is not clear if they will seriously fight for their customers in this case. I think they should: there is a chance to bury the zombie of the Pure Bill of Discovery and punish wannabe filmmakers with attorney fees, like it happened in the Prenda’s Lighspeed v Smith.

In the meantime, ransom letters will soon start to arrive. If you received one, do not freak out: you are not being sued yet (and most likely won’t ever be). If you can’t afford a lawyer, waiting out is a valid option (which is not advised when an actual lawsuit is filed against you). Talking to a lawyer is advised in any case: the majority doesn’t charge for the phone conversation: contact an attorney who knows the topic, not just any lawyer: refer to one in your state — they are all good.

If you are in Florida, it probably doesn’t make sense to contact Bill Wohlsifer: not because he is not good, quite the opposite. I just assume that he is busy with his election campaign: Mr. Wohlsifer is challenging the sitting Florida Attorney General. As an attorney, William actively fought with the plague of copyright trolling, so I’m pretty sure trolls won’t be comfortable (to put it mildly) in Florida if he is elected. You have a chance to make a difference by voting.

(The document was obtained by Leonard French.)

Florida attorney Cynthia Conlin also wrote about this case.

Update

7/10/2014

Today Cynthia Conlin brought a good news — partially of her own making as explained in her tweets below.

Today the Pure Bill of Discovery case in Brevard County filed by Canal Street Films was dismissed. No John Doe info will be released!

It was voluntary. The ISPs helped. After my motions to vacate the judgment, the ISPs moved in and applied further pressure.