The Future of Copyright File-Sharing Lawsuits

Kirby Drake — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:24:51 +0000

The Northern District of Texas has faced a recent slew of copyright infringement cases filed against John Doe offenders alleged to have engaged in improper Internet file-sharing, such as through BitTorrent file sharing software. These cases often name hundreds or even thousands of anonymous defendants, often having nothing more in common with one another than allegedly having used BitTorrent. Once sued, the plaintiff typically subpoenas Internet providers demanding that they look up the real names and addresses of the anonymous defendants, in order to contact the individual defendants and seek settlement for nominal amounts prior to personally naming the individual defendant in the lawsuit.

Judge Royal Furgeson of the Northern District of Texas has expressed his displeasure for these types of cases in several recent opinions. In particular, Judge Furgeson recently severed hundreds of defendants who have been sued in a single lawsuit and quashed a number of subpoenas issued to Internet providers. Judge Furgeson even granted a reprieve to a group of named defendants already listed as being in default for not showing up to court. In 13 out of 16 cases, all of which targeted hundreds or even thousands of defendants, only one unnamed defendant remains. Judge Furgeson noted that if the plaintiff’s counsel chose to continue to pursue file-sharing litigation, he could do so but only by filing “individual complaints against those Does” over the next 30 days at a cost of $350 per defendant.

In the case of FUNimation Entertainment v. Doe 1, 3:11-cv-01147-F, filed January 24, 2011, Judge Furgeson severed 1,336 of the 1,337 defendants, noting that none of the defendants had anything material in common. “There are no allegations in Plaintiff’s Complaint that the Defendants are in any way related to each other, or that they acted in concert or as a group in the allegedly infringing actions . . . Indeed, it seems that the copyright infringement claim against each Defendant is based on the individual acts of each Defendant.”

It remains to be seen if the rulings by Judge Furgeson will reflect the prevailing view of the courts concerning lawsuits related to alleged use of file sharing software, such as BitTorrent. However, should this become the prevailing view, the future of mass defendant file-sharing lawsuits will be much in doubt.

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Snipe Hunting in the NDTX » Infringement

The Future of Copyright File-Sharing Lawsuits