ACS Law flaw has done everyone a favour

The best thing to come out of the ACS Law hearings about alleged copyright infringement is that  the spotlight is now on the inherently flawed belief that the sole use of IP addresses is acceptable proof someone is guilty of copyright infringement.

So completely unintentionally, Andrew Crossley of ACS Law has actually done us all a favour.

Even a comment made by Tim Ludbrook, the barrister instructed by ACS Law at the hearing on 24 January, that the use of IP addresses was an accepted method of catching copyright criminals, was rightly challenged.

Francis Davey, the barrister acting on behalf of five clients of solicitors Lawdit, pointed out that there was no such general acceptance; in fact the general consensus is completely the opposite.

Because of Crossley's shambolic handling of 27 copyright infringement cases, even the judge had something to say on this issue.

Judge Birss pointed out in his judgement that "All the IP address identifies is an internet connection, which is likely today to be a wireless home broadband router", and Media Cat, the licensing company, did not know who was involved in any illegal downloading.

Read the Judge's full comments about the use of IP addresses, which start at section 27 and go up to 31 of his judgement.

It's been an unbelievable nightmare for those caught up in this copyright protection exercise, or as one barrister put it, "a money-making exercise". But hopefully the final outcome could really have far-reaching consequences; not only for the implementation of clauses concerning copyright infringement covered under the Digital Economy Act, but also copyright owners.

They must now be gnawing their nails in frustration and could, no should, think twice about relying on IP addresses as sole evidence on which to base their cases.

Whether they will, however, remains to be seen. But some battle lines have been drawn. And while these may well only be in sand, and copyright owners have every right to protect their interests, how they will do this is now open to doubt.