A British law firm which targets consumers who allegedly share games and movies via the Internet has itself been targeted by the UK's largest consumer advocacy organization.

Zeropaid reports that consumer group Which? filed a complaint against law firm Davenport Lyons with the UK's Solicitors Regulatory Authority. As GamePolitics reported in August, Davenport Lyons aggressively targeted alleged file sharers on behalf of five UK game publishers. From Zeropaid's coverage:

The alleged file-sharers have received letters from the law firm demanding payment of £500 ($773 USD) compensation for copyright infringement, but many, most notably a non-gaming elderly couple, have been wrongly accused.

A recent Which? Computing investigation found that while working with games firm Atari, Davenport Lyons wrongly accused a Scottish couple, aged 54 and 66, of infringing copyright of a game ‘Race O7’. Since then, Atari has severed ties with the law firm. But Which? Computing has evidence from people who, after repeated letters from Davenport Lyons, have been scared into paying compensation for something they say they did not do.

The Which? complaint charges, among other things, that Davenport Lyons' letters to alleged file sharers misstate copyright law, ignore evidence of innocence, and increase the amount demanded over time.

Atari is no longer chasing file-sharers in the UK.

In August GamePolitics reported that five British publishers, most notaby Codemasters and Atari, were filing lawsuits against suspected P2P game uploaders. In one case, an unemployed immigrant mother of two, Isabella Barwinska, was ordered to pay £16,086 (roughly $30,000) for sharing a pinball game.

But a little sleuthing by gamesindustry.biz showed that the law firm employed by the publishers was a sleazy outfit, indeed. The story got even uglier when a pair of older, non-gaming couples were wrongly targeted for sharing games and, more recently, a Nazi porn movie.

Now, P2P advocacy site ZeroPaid reports that Atari has decided that waging war on consumers is bad business:

The lawsuit [against the older couple] was quickly dropped without comment by Atari, but the bad publicity still lingered and called into question the effectiveness of [law firm] Davenport Lyons' tactics.

Now it seems that Atari has decided to part ways with Davenport Lyons altogether, though it hasn't sworn off targeting file-sharers altogether.

Atari's legal department penned an email to UK website The Register, saying, "In relation to file-sharing, our position is that we always retain and reserve the right to protect our intellectual property from illegal copying and piracy. Whilst we are no longer working with Davenport Lyons, we continue to work with legal advisers to protect our rights."

GP: It's good to see that Phil Harrison has Atari focused on its future and not this kind of anti-consumer nonsense.

And then there were 22...

When 2008 began, the Entertainment Software Association, the lobbying group which represents U.S. video game publishers, had 28 member companies. Several well-publicized departures, however, reduced its ranks to 23 companies by the time that E3 rolled around in July.

A glance at current ESA membership reveals that prominent British game publisher Codemasters is no longer listed as part of the organization.

While there has been no announcement from the ESA, Codemasters' departure must be a fairly recent development. The publisher of the Operation Flashpoint and Colin McRae Rally series was officially reported to be an ESA member as recently as E3. An ESA booklet, Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry, distributed at the show, lists the firm as a member on page 12.

Codemasters thus apparently becomes the sixth publisher to leave the ESA since May, following Activision, Vivendi, LucasArts, id, and Crave out the door.

We have a request in to the ESA for comment.

GP: There has been speculation for some time that additional member companies might leave the ESA after E3. Current global economic conditions certainly can't be helpful to the ESA in its efforts to retain members.

UPDATE: The ESA has confirmed that Codemasters has left its membership ranks. A statement from Senior Vice President of Communications and Research Rich Taylor this morning says:

We can confirm that Codemasters has decided not to renew its ESA membership.  We respect Codemasters’ decision and look forward to continuing to work with them on issues of mutual interest.