Torrent Lawsuit Defense

Time Warner Subpoena

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Strike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media File 90+ Lawsuits Over 3 Days

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright noticesStrike 3 Holdings, joined by Malibu Media, continue to mass file copyright lawsuits against John Doe internet subscribers they allege downloaded their copyrighted material through BitTorrent networks. Over 3 days, Strike 3 Holdings filed 85 lawsuits in California (26 cases), Florida (3 cases), New Jersey (26 cases), and New York (30 cases). Malibu Media filed an additional 6 cases in Illinois (3 cases) and Michigan (3 cases). These case are in addition to 83 similar lawsuits already filed in the first half of September.

Although Malibu Media and Strike 3 Holdings are separate companies that own separate brands (Malibu Media owns the rights to X-Art brand films and Strike 3 Holdings owns rights to Tushy, Vixen, Blacked, and Blacked Raw), the two Plaintiffs are very similar in their approach. They both hire investigators to monitor Bittorrent networks and record the IP addresses of people allegedly downloading their copyrighted material. They then sue the subscriber associated with the IP address. However, in order to properly serve the defendant, they subpoena the identity of the subscriber from the Internet Service Provider.

Although these lawsuits are filed regularly, they are serious for the defendant. The Plaintiffs consider each alleged infringement as worth $1,000s in damages if they win in court.

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Malibu Media and Strike 3 Holdings File 140 More BitTorrent Lawsuits

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright noticesMalibu Media and Strike 3 Holdings continue to blanket the country in copyright lawsuits against John Doe internet subscribers they allege downloaded their copyrighted material through BitTorrent networks. September has already seen 83 lawsuits filed by Malibu Media and another 57 by Strike 3 Holdings. Malibu Media has filed 5 lawsuits in Connecticut, 8 in Maryland, 16 in Michigan, 11 in New Jersey, 22 in New York, 13 in Pennsylvania, 8 in Texas, and 8 in Virginia. During the same time period, Strike 3 Holdings filed 8 lawsuits in Connecticut, 6 in Florida, 9 in Illinois, 24 in Michigan, and 10 in New York.

Although Malibu Media and Strike 3 Holdings are separate companies that own separate brands (Malibu Media owns the rights to X-Art brand films and Strike 3 Holdings owns rights to Tushy, Vixen, Blacked, and Blacked Raw), the two Plaintiffs are very similar in their approach. They begin by identifying an IP address they claim participated in downloading and sharing of their films through Bittorrent and then sue the unnamed account holder as a John Doe. As they only have an IP address, they ask the courts to subpoena the defendant’s identity from the Internet Service Provider (ISP) so the defendant can be formally served.

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Colorado Hit by 30 Strike 3 Holdings Lawsuits

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright noticesIn June and August, Colorado was hit by 30 Strike 3 Holdings lawsuits concerning alleged file sharing of adult films. They target individual IP addresses they claim their investigators observed participating in downloading and sharing their films through BitTorrent network protocols.

Colorado is not only in being targeted. Strike 3 Holdings has filed thousands of nearly identical complaints around the country. They demand thousands in damages for every infringement, despite the cost of legally accessing the material is significantly less than this. Strike 3 Holdings owns the copyrights to films in the Vixen, Tushy, Blacked, and Blacked Raw brands.

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Copyright Troll Behind Prenda Law Pleads Guilty

Paul R. Hansmeier has pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in Minnesota for his part in the Prenda Law “copyright troll” extortion scheme. The plea comes over a year after his remaining co-conspirator, John Steele, pleaded guilty last year to similar charges. The third perpetrator of the scheme, Paul Duffy, died of complications from alcoholism in 2015.

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright notices

In September 2010, Hansmeier, along with John Steele and Paul Duffy, began to represent pornography producers against alleged copyright infringement online.

They monitored activity on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharing networks that use the bittorrent protocol — then sued IP addresses they alleged contributed to the downloading and sharing of their clients’ films. They obtained the identities of the alleged infringers through court subpoenas and sent settlement demand letters to thousands of defendants.

Many defendants were intimidated by the letters they received. Hansmeier and his associates saw BitTorrent downloads as a powerful money-making scheme. They created shell companies such as AF Holdings, Ingenuity 13, Guava, and LW Systems, to seemingly insulate themselves from the exposure. They produced their own adult films and uploaded them to BitTorrent networks to encourage their download and sharing.

They then sued the very people who downloaded and shared their movies.

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More than 80 File Sharing Lawsuits Filed in the Past Week by Strike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright noticesStrike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media have continued to sustain their record breaking pace of filing copyright infringement lawsuits. Combined, they filed more than 80 lawsuits in the past week. Malibu Media was particularly active, filing 12 lawsuits in Illinois, 3 in Michigan, 15 in New York, and 16 in Texas. Strike 3 Holdings filed an additional 9 lawsuits in Colorado, 4 in Illinois, 10 in Maryland, and 12 in Pennsylvania. In August, Malibu Media has filed more than 100 cases and Strike 3 Holdings has filed more than 300. Combined, they file more than a dozen lawsuits a day on average.

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Strike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media File More than 50 New Lawsuits

Reddit user /u/beardfearer may fear beards, but not copyright noticesStrike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media have filed another 54 lawsuits across the country against John Does, accusing them of downloading their adult films using Bittorrent. This brings the total to more than 340 lawsuits filed in August – averaging more than a dozen lawsuits every day. For this latest round, Strike 3 Holdings has filed 18 cases in California and 5 cases in Pennsylvania. Malibu Media filed another 10 cases in Maryland, 3 in Michigan, and 18 in New Jersey.

Normally, it would be extremely difficult to file hundreds of lawsuits against individuals in less than a month, however, Strike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media file nearly identical suits each time. They begin by identifying an IP address they claim participated in downloading and sharing of their films through Bittorrent and then sue the unnamed account holder as a John Doe. As they only have an IP address, they then ask the courts to subpoena the defendant’s identity from the Internet Service Provider so the defendant can be formally served.

Defendants usually first learn they are being sued when they receive a letter from their ISP that informs them the plaintiff has requested their identity. Because federal civil lawsuits are generally public record and easily searchable, many defendants wish to remain anonymous to minimize the suit’s affect on their private and professional lives. If a defendant wishes to remain anonymous, it is vital they retain counsel without delay.

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