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Look Out, Downloaders: It Now Pays to Sue You

Virginia lawfirm makes RIAA actions pale by comparison

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 3, 2010 5:48 PM CDT
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(Newser) – The recent lawsuit against those who illegally downloaded the Hurt Locker is likely just a sign of things to come. But that's not because the movie industry has suddenly decided to go after pirates; it's because a group of lawyers—they go by the name the US Copyright Group—has figured out how to make money off the cases, reports Ars Technica. The group asks indie film producers for permission to sue downloaders, sends out subpoenas, then asks for $1,500 to $2,500 to settle a potential $150,000 lawsuit.

Unsurprisingly, almost everyone settles, and the money is split between the filmmaker and the lawyers. Since January, they have sued about 15,000 people and probably collected about $20 million in settlements to split. That's almost as many as the RIAA sued across all of 2003 and 2008, and the Copyright Group is stepping up the pace. Maybe it's time to get Netflix after all.

In this film publicity file image released by Summit Entertainment, Jeremy Renner is shown in a scene from The Hurt Locker.
In this film publicity file image released by Summit Entertainment, Jeremy Renner is shown in a scene from "The Hurt Locker."   (AP Photo/Summit Entertainment)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 34 comments
Jaffo99
Jun 6, 2010 1:55 PM CDT
This is not a new strategy. DirecTV lawyers were doing the same thing to people that they caught buying card writing equipment. This was about 7-10 years ago. They would raid seller stores, seize order invoices and promptly mail extortion letters to the buyers. They weren't interested in establishing guilt or intent, they wanted scared recipients to pony up $3500 to $5000 per device. If you resisted the settlement, you had a 10%-20% chance of being hauled into court and the penalty would increase accordingly (if found guilty + lawyer expenses). They extorted 10 of thousands of people this way.
If you had the equipment for other uses and refused to play their game, they would still haul you in and you were stuck having to hire council for defense. The result, most people settled... guilty or not because it was the cheapest path.
cognitivefilter
Jun 4, 2010 9:46 PM CDT
i don't have a moral issue with downloading movies: the people who make them make way too much money. so what if i don't want to spend $13 to see your garbage on the big screen. the financial workings of hollywood are so wacked it makes me want to puke
miamisun
Jun 4, 2010 7:28 PM CDT
If 2/3'ds of the movies didnt suck ballz then people wouldn't download so much.

 
p2p • video downloads • illegal downloading

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