BitTorrent movie downloaders apparently didn't get the memo about The Hurt Locker, whose producer is suing file sharers by the thousands.
The Oscar-winning film remains popular on BitTorrent even though 5,000 people have been sued by Voltage Pictures, the film's producer. Voltage's mass lawsuit strategy is part of a new venture by the U.S. Copyright Group, which threatens file sharers with legal action in bulk if they don't pay steep settlements instead.
According to TorrentFreak, The Hurt Locker remained in the top 25 movies downloaded in June, more than a year after it first became available on BitTorrent. Roughly 200,000 people downloaded the movie, and there currently are more than 200 torrent files linking to pirated copies.
TorrentFreak speculates that Voltage Pictures is purposely abstaining from getting these torrent files removed. It's far more lucrative to let people download to their hearts' content, and then sue them. The U.S. Copyright Group, on its Web site, notes that statutory damages in copyright infringement cases range from $750 to $150,000 per infringed work. Settlements may range from $1,500 to $2,500.
The Hurt Locker isn't the only film that the U.S. Copyright Group is working on. Other movies include "Steam Experiment," "Far Cry," "Uncross the Stars," "Gray Man" and "Call of the Wild 3D," according to The Hollywood Reporter. But The Hurt Locker is noteworthy because of its popularity -- it won six Academy Awards including "Best Picture" -- and because of its outspoken producer, Nicholas Chartier. He reportedly called pirates "stupid" in an e-mail to someone who voiced disapproval of the mass lawsuits, whom Chartier also called a "moron."
With so many people walking into potential legal troubles, Chartier may have a point, but currently the legality of these mass lawsuits is in dispute. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union and Public Citizen have challenged the practice, arguing that there's not enough of a relationship between downloaders to tie them together into one lawsuit. The U.S. Copyright Group argues that everyone's related because they all take part in sharing bits of a torrent file.
For now, a judge has ordered all parties to get together and agree on informative letters that can be sent to the accused. The idea is that if defendants know their rights, they may challenge the mass lawsuits themselves. I think the odds of that happening will only improve if more people get sued.
