EFF Takes Stand Against Copyright Lawsuits

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

30 June 2010

A federal court in Washington, D.C., will hear oral arguments on June 30 in a case concerning the dividing up of mass copyright infringement lawsuits that target thousands of BitTorrent users.

A Washington, D.C., law firm calling itself the US Copyright Group (USCG) has filed John Doe lawsuits on behalf of seven filmmakers that implicate well over 14,000 anonymous individuals in alleged unauthorized downloading of independent films, including "Far Cry" and "The Hurt Locker."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and co-amici Public Citizen and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation contend that these suits improperly lump thousands of defendants together, a shortcut they claim "deprives the defendants of fair access to individual justice."

EFF Senior Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry will argue that the USCG has not offered enough evidence of a relationship between the defendants to justify suing them together.

According to the EFF, the USCG is seeking damages of USD150,000 per downloaded movie - the maximum penalty allowable by law in copyright suits - in order to pressure the alleged infringers to settle quickly for USD1,500 - USD2,500 per person.

Earlier this month, EFF, the ACLU, and Public Citizen filed an amicus brief in three of these cases, arguing that the lawsuits flout the legal safeguards that protect individuals' rights.

Recommended