Sending monetary demand letters and threatening to pursue legal cases against people who may have illegally downloaded a mainstream movie because of information tied to an IP address is one thing. Using those same tactics when pornography is involved is quite another because of the stigmas and the potential shame involved.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has been speaking out publicly against these practices since the first mass John Doe file-sharing lawsuits began earlier this year. Now, EFF representatives are actually standing before the judges presiding over these cases asking them to preserve defendant’s identities to relieve the pressure some might feel to pay the settlement fees in order to preserve their anonymity.
"Some producers of adult content have apparently come to the conclusion that filing shoddy mass lawsuits under the assumption that the defendants will be too intimidated to fight back is a good business strategy," says EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "It is our hope that courts will quickly see through these tactics and ensure that the right to a fair process is ensured for every defendant."
Several thousand Doe defendants are currently facing these types of tactics as the Adult Copyright Company and porn production companies continue to file mass copyright infringement cases in federal courts across the US. The case for preserving anonymity has already been struck down by a judge presiding over the Far Cry infringement case. While that particular film is not porn, the decision is one that the EFF is hoping the judges in the porn-sharing cases will not use as a precedence.
"There is a real potential for embarrassment, or worse, if a pornographer mistakenly identifies an anonymous individual as having infringed its copyright by downloading one of its movies," said Paul Levy, attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group. "To ensure justice for the individuals being accused, filmmakers claiming copyright infringement should be required to meet the same standards as defamation plaintiffs and others claiming the right to sue for anonymous speech online."
The EFF is also using issues of jurisdiction, a point that has surfaced repeatedly in these cases, as part of their defense for the alleged file sharers. They have filed an amicus brief in eight different current mass lawsuits informing the judges that plaintiffs should re-file their cases against each defendant individually and bring suit in courts that are more likely to be able to properly exercise personal jurisdiction.
Between these actions performed by the EFF and the class-action lawsuit recently filed by one of the alleged Far Cry file-sharing defendants, maybe the courts will start to listen and stand up against these corrupt entertainment industry practices that trample on citizens’ rights. We’d love to say good riddance to these predatory copyright troll lawsuits.
