Appeals Court Halts Copyright Abuse Case

A federal appeals court yesterday held that copyright holders may not abuse the legal process to obtain the identities of thousands of Internet users.

The plaintiff in this case, AF Holdings, sought the identities of more than 1,000 Internet users that it claims are linked to the illegal downloading of a copyrighted pornographic film.

The EFF , American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of the Nation's Capital, Public Citizen, and Public Knowledge all came to the defense and won a crushing blow against the copyright holder.