JUDGE: 'Porn Copyright Trolls' Defrauded My Court

A federal judge has written a scathing order finding a company called AF Holdings Inc. filed bogus lawsuits accusing people of illegally downloading online porn.

AF Holdings filed five different lawsuits accusing people of illegally downloading porn that AF supposedly held the copyright to. Four of those cases quickly settled for sums ranging from $3,500 to $6,000.

In an unusual move, Judge Franklin Noel is forcing AF Holdings to return the settlement cash after finding the company couldn't prove it held the copyright to "Popular Demand" and "Sexual Obsession."

"AF Holdings failed to produce any credible evidence that the [copyright] assignments were authentic," Minnesota federal judge Noel wrote, in an opinion reported on by Forbes. "The court has been the victim of a fraud perpetrated by AF Holdings, LLC."

Perhaps the most egregious part of is the judge's finding that AF allegedly used a forged signature on a copyright-assignment agreement. The name on that agreement was of Alan Cooper, a caretaker at the Minnesota cabin of John Steele, one of the lawyers involved with AF and a self-described "copyright troll."

Cooper testified that he never signed the agreement or held a position with AF Holdings, according to Judge Noel's order, which referred to AF's business as part of "an apparent scheme."

Judge Noel is not the first jurist to slam AF Holdings and the lawyers associated with it. In May, Judge Otis Wright accused Prenda Law - a now-defunct law firm whose lawyers formed AF Holdings - of launching a multimillion dollar "porn-trolling collective."

Here's how AF Holdings' alleged porn trolling works. The company files copyright lawsuits against "John Does" who can only be identified through their ISP addresses. Through the court discovery process, AF finds out the identities of these John Does. Then they offer to settle for an amount just below the cost of a "bare bones defense," as Judge Wright wrote.

If alleged illegal downloaders don't settle, they risk being "outed" as porn watchers while they fight litigation brought by AF.

We reached out to lawyers for AF and will update this post if we hear back.