Court ordered sanctions and costs ...

The Appeals Court decision tells it all ...

Quote:

[S]tone committed those violations as an attempt to repeat his strategy of suing anonymous internet users for allegedly downloading pornography illegally, using the powers of the court to find their identity, then shaming or intimidating them into settling for thousands of dollars, a tactic that he has employed all across the state and that has been replicated by others across the country ... http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...77-CV0.wpd.pdf

Quote:

In January, a federal judge in Dallas imposed $10,000 in sanctions on Mr. Stone and required him to pay $22,040 in attorneys? fees. Mr. Stone, in his zeal to get the names of those who illegally downloaded Der Gute Onkel, had sent out subpoenas without the court?s permission. U.S. District Judge David Godbey used words like ?wanton? and ?grave? to describe Mr. Stone?s conduct. The judge accused Mr. Stone of transforming the use of subpoenas ?from a bona fide state-sanctioned inspection into private snooping.? So Mr. Stone appealed the sanction to the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/07/13/...opyright-tale/