23,000 Defendants Sued In Biggest Illegal Downloading Case In History

By on May 12, 2011 in News 25

stalloneMovie makers are suing thousands of individuals who downloaded and watched Sylvester Stallone’s latest film? Shouldn’t that read vice versa? Via Wired:

At least 23,000 file sharers soon will likely get notified they are being sued for downloading The Expendables in what has become the single largest illegal-BitTorrent-downloading case in U.S. history.

A federal judge in the case has agreed to allow the U.S. Copyright Group to subpoena internet service providers to find out the identity of everybody who had illegally downloaded the 2010 Sylvester Stallone flick — meaning the number of defendants is likely to dramatically increase as new purloiners are discovered.

All told, more than 140,000 BitTorrent downloaders are being targeted in dozens of lawsuits across the country, many of them for downloading B-rated movies and porn.

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  • JoiquimCouteau

    Like trying to fill a bucket with millions of holes in the bottom

  • Anonymous

    Like trying to fill a bucket with millions of holes in the bottom

  • DeepCough

    It’s a lot less compromising to simply watch the movie as opposed to downloading and keeping it.

  • DeepCough

    It’s a lot less compromising to simply watch the movie as opposed to downloading and keeping it.

  • Anonymous

    As mentioned in slashdot, this actually comes right after a judge ruled that there’s no connection between IP and an individual, so hopefully people will push to shut this down based on that. If that succeeds, we might actually see an end to these frivolous law suits.

  • Anonymous

    As mentioned in slashdot, this actually comes right after a judge ruled that there’s no connection between IP and an individual, so hopefully people will push to shut this down based on that. If that succeeds, we might actually see an end to these frivolous law suits.

  • SF2K01

    As mentioned in slashdot, this actually comes right after a judge ruled that there’s no connection between IP and an individual, so hopefully people will push to shut this down based on that. If that succeeds, we might actually see an end to these frivolous law suits.

  • Haystack

    This sort of copyright trolling has become a business strategy for some. A company will put out a shitty B movie and make more by collecting “damages” than they every would have from sales.

    Picture these sort of practices being married to the “three strikes” laws that some countries are passing, where you lose the right to internet access after three accusations of infringement.

  • Haystack

    This sort of copyright trolling has become a business strategy for some. A company will put out a shitty B movie and make more by collecting “damages” than they every would have from sales.

    Picture these sort of practices being married to the “three strikes” laws that some countries are passing, where you lose the right to internet access after three accusations of infringement.

  • http://www.newsblok.com Newsblok.com

    Titanic (1997) – $1,843,201,268 – 2nd highest grossing film ever
    Avatar (2009) – $2,783,165,628 – highest grossing film ever

    when was illegal downloading more rampant, 1997 or 2009? sure it’s killing the industry…

    as others have said, watching an online stream is the way forward, there are plenty of sites that offer streams and as soon as one gets taken down, another one pops up.

  • http://www.newsblok.com Newsblok.com

    Titanic (1997) – $1,843,201,268 – 2nd highest grossing film ever
    Avatar (2009) – $2,783,165,628 – highest grossing film ever

    when was illegal downloading more rampant, 1997 or 2009? sure it’s killing the industry…

    as others have said, watching an online stream is the way forward, there are plenty of sites that offer streams and as soon as one gets taken down, another one pops up.

  • http://www.newsblok.com Newsblok.com

    Titanic (1997) – $1,843,201,268 – 2nd highest grossing film ever
    Avatar (2009) – $2,783,165,628 – highest grossing film ever

    when was illegal downloading more rampant, 1997 or 2009? sure it’s killing the industry…

    as others have said, watching an online stream is the way forward, there are plenty of sites that offer streams and as soon as one gets taken down, another one pops up.

  • Anonymous

    If this kind of suing ever becomes prevalent people will just use a proxy to obscure their IP.

  • dumbsaint

    If this kind of suing ever becomes prevalent people will just use a proxy to obscure their IP.

  • http://twitter.com/Marklar_Prime Marklar Kronkite

    The player piano is killing the music industry, no wait,.. the gramaphone is killing the music industry, no wait,.. the the cassette player is killing the music industry, no wait,.. the VCR is killing the movie industry, no wait,… DVD burners are killing the movie industry, no wait,.. the internet is killing them both!

    Those who ignore history are not only doomed to repeat it but to look like complete and utter retards while doing so.

  • http://twitter.com/Marklar_Prime Marklar Kronkite

    The player piano is killing the music industry, no wait,.. the gramaphone is killing the music industry, no wait,.. the the cassette player is killing the music industry, no wait,.. the VCR is killing the movie industry, no wait,… DVD burners are killing the movie industry, no wait,.. the internet is killing them both!

    Those who ignore history are not only doomed to repeat it but to look like complete and utter retards while doing so.

  • Marklar_Prime

    The player piano is killing the music industry, no wait,.. the gramaphone is killing the music industry, no wait,.. the the cassette player is killing the music industry, no wait,.. the VCR is killing the movie industry, no wait,… DVD burners are killing the movie industry, no wait,.. the internet is killing them both!

    Those who ignore history are not only doomed to repeat it but to look like complete and utter retards while doing so.

  • http://www.facebook.com/victor.r.franca Victor R. Franca

    just get netflix and shut them up 

  • http://www.facebook.com/victor.r.franca Victor R. Franca

    just get netflix and shut them up 

  • http://www.facebook.com/victor.r.franca Victor R. Franca

    also use proxy servers you can add them to your bittorrent client and have the data bounce at another computer then bounce to yours hidding your address/ http://www.publicproxyservers.com/proxy/list1.html

  • http://www.facebook.com/victor.r.franca Victor R. Franca

    also use proxy servers you can add them to your bittorrent client and have the data bounce at another computer then bounce to yours hidding your address/ http://www.publicproxyservers.com/proxy/list1.html

    • Navysealteam7

       Victor, people like you are why people like me crack a smile now and again,.. ;)

  • Navysealteam7

     Victor, people like you are why people like me crack a smile now and again,.. ;)

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

     It makes sense now… make a movie so bad that no one will pay to see it…then sue them if they watch it for free. Its the new revenue stream of the future!!! No longer will Hollywood be bound by the old concept that movies should try to do well in the box office racket…that paradigm is dying. Now they just film any turd that splashes onto their desks and make the real money when the lawyers are finished.

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

     It makes sense now… make a movie so bad that no one will pay to see it…then sue them if they watch it for free. Its the new revenue stream of the future!!! No longer will Hollywood be bound by the old concept that movies should try to do well in the box office racket…that paradigm is dying. Now they just film any turd that splashes onto their desks and make the real money when the lawyers are finished.