Practice: Media CAT Ltd. v A and others Part 3
I mentioned this litigation on the 12 and 21 Dec 2010 . In my latter case note I reported that the judge had found claims by Media CAT Ltd. against 27 defendants and listed them to come on before him on 17 January 2011. I advised those defendants to take legal advice and if possible appear by counsel and that is precisely what most of them did. Shortly before the 17 the claimant's solicitor tried to discontinue the claims against the defendants and vacate the hearing making clear that he intended to reissue the proceedings. The judge appears to have raised of his own motion the question whether the court's permission would be required for discontinuance and asked whether any step could be taken in the litigation without the consent of the copyright owner. The defendants' counsel indicated that they would be seeking wasted costs against the claimant's solicitors. The only thing that saved those solicitors from being ordered to show cause there and then was that their c...