IT Machines, LLC vs. Masterfile Corporation, NCS Recovery Corp. and Phusion 25

[dieselfish]

Well, I signed up for a Pacer account and started looking into some Masterfile cases.  I was delighted to come across this case, "IT Machines, LLC vs. Masterfile Corporation, NCS Recovery Corp. and Phusion 25".  Looks as if someone had the cajones to stand up to Masterfile and fire a shot across their bow.  As far as I can tell from reading the docket, it was related to the Fair Debt Collection Act and was subsequently dismissed.  Unfortunate, but at least it looks like Masterfile had to squirm a little bit.   

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

I for one would like to read about this, did you happen to save them as pdfs?

[dieselfish]

@buddhapi  I did. I only have the docket and just forwarded it to Matthew. 

[Matthew Chan]

After DieselFish brought this to my attention, I dug deeper. I took his docket submission and dug into PACER further. There is a story to be told. I have sorted the documents in numerical order based on court numbering. The documents are in this Scribd collection:

http://www.scribd.com/collections/3431323/IT-Machines-vs-Masterfile-NCS-Recovery-Lawsuit

However, the initial complaint is actually Exhibit A in the federal system. I labeled it as Initial Complaint in Scribd for easier following. The Initial Complaint is rather scathing against Masterfile, NCS Recovery, and Phusion 25

http://www.scribd.com/doc/77980349/IT-Machines-vs-Masterfile-NCS-Recovery-Initial-Complaint

From there, there is a motion to remove it from state court to federal court.

The rest of it mostly speaks for itself. Ultimately, there was a settlement between the parties.

[Bekka]

If Masterfile settled with IT Machines, would that not speak volumes?  Masterfile obviously did not want this to go to court as it might have put to bed a very lucrative business.  If they settled, it certainly implies guilt on MF's side or at the very least an inability to defend itself against the charges.  It is a shame this case did not move completely through the court system.

[dieselfish]

Wow! The initial complaint IS scathing!  Too bad it didn't make it - would have brought some great exposure, not to mention a class action case against Masterfile!

[SoylentGreen]

The last document says that Phusion settled with MF.

Therefore, I'd say that this was a situation such as we hear about all the time on here.
This occurred in the somewhat "early days" of trolling, and it would seem that IT Machines didn't know what was happening.

IT Machines hired Phusion to create a website for them.
Phusion used MF images without license, and MF found out about the infringement.
As per usual custom, MF went after the end user; IT Machines.
IT Machines (having paid for their site in good faith) thought that there was some collusion between Phusion and MF.

It appears that this is a case wherein the developer Phusion made "good" in the end.

S.G.