David Wall explores the phenomenon of ‘copyright trolling’, which is the (il) legal practice often referred to as ‘speculative invoicing’ that deliberately upsets or embarrasses individuals to get them to pay for material they may or may not have downloaded illegally. It looks at the policing of digital copyright in the UK, US and Germany by exploring the legal practice of copyright trolling as well as some recent examples of litigation in those countries. More specifically, it asks the question as to what extent have some intellectual property lawyers been creatively and entrepreneurially seeking to use the threat of court or exposure to embarrass defendants into making payments.
Image courtesy of interviewee. April 2, 2019