U.S. Court Orders Up to $97,500 in Damages for Sharing ‘Adult’ Films via BitTorrent

As the most prolific copyright litigant in the United States, adult entertainment company Strike 3 Holdings has filed over 15,000 lawsuits in federal courts.

These lawsuits target people whose Internet connections were allegedly used to download and share copyright-infringing content via BitTorrent.

Many of these cases result in confidential settlements or are quietly dismissed and never heard of again. A tiny percentage proceed to a full contest in court, while the remaining cases are simply ignored by defendants.

From a legal standpoint, failing to respond to a lawsuit, regardless of the validity of the claims, is the worst option. Not putting up a defense allows the claiming party to move for a default judgment where the court, because it only hears one side of the case, may find it easier to agree with the claiming party.

Strike 3 Strikes Gold

Strike 3 has obtained dozens, if not hundreds of default judgments and this week appears to have struck gold in a Georgia federal court. In three separate cases, U.S. District Judge Steven Grimberg awarded default judgments in favor of the adult entertainment company.

These uncontested cases are fairly straightforward. After filing complaints against John Does initially identified only by their IP-addresses, Strike 3 obtained subpoenas to obtain associated subscriber data from their ISPs.

These named defendants, who allegedly shared dozens of pirated films each via BitTorrent, were then served and asked to appear in court. The defendants in all cases failed to make an appearance, after which Strike 3 requested default judgments based on the following details.

– Defendant A. Salomon shared 130 copyrighted works without permission
– Defendant H. Alexander shared 115 copyrighted works without permission
– Defendant K. Forbes shared 35 copyrighted works without permission

Under U.S. Copyright Law, statutory damages for willful copyright infringement can reach $150,000 per infringed work. That could’ve resulted in almost $20 million in damages for defendant Salomon and more than $5 million for Forbes. However, Strike 3 opted for a more “reasonable” request.

Strike 3’s motion for default judgment requested damages of $750 per work, the statutory minimum for non-willful infringement.

“Defendant infringed 130 of Plaintiff’s Works, which therefore equates to $97,500. Thus, the recovery sought has been reduced to the absolute minimum and is reasonable,” the company argued.

Court Issues Default Judgments

After reviewing the paperwork and Strike 3’s self-proclaimed ‘reasonable’ damages requests, Judge Steven Grimberg granted all three default judgments this week.

The three judgments are part of a consolidated docket and use a nearly identical template. The only differences are the personal details, the number of infringed works, and the related damages amount. For Salomon, this results in $97,500 of owed damages, while Alexander and Forbes must pay $86,250 and $26,250 respectively.

In addition to the damages, Judge Grimberg also issued a permanent injunction, ordering the defendants to stop pirating Strike 3’s works and destroy all copies still in their possession.

These types of lawsuits are so common by now that they rarely make headlines anymore. However, this week’s substantial judgments show that they can have real consequences.

Strike 3 filed nearly 4,000 complaints last year, so these three cases represent a tiny fraction. Given the potential reward, however, it’s understandable that the company continues down this path.

For anyone involved in one of these cases, innocent or not, the defaults serve as a reminder that legal paperwork should not be ignored. And if defendants are innocent, history has shown that it can be worth putting up a serious defense.

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Copies of the three default judgments issues by U.S. District Judge Steven Grimberg are available here (1, 2, 3).

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.