14 June 2016

Federal Courts Swamped With Porn Pirate Suits

[T]he adult website Malibu Media is a prodigious enforcer of its copyrights. According to law professor Matthew Sag of Loyola University in Chicago, Malibu alone was responsible for nearly 40 percent of all copyright filings in federal court in 2015. Litigation against anonymous downloaders, by Malibu and other copyright enforcers, made up nearly 60 percent of the federal copyright docket last year
From a Reuters article discussing the similar failed business model of the law firm Prenda Law, which died in a hail of court sanctions for unethical conduct.

Since porn websites routinely give away vast amounts of product for free, it isn't unreasonable to guess that these sites make more money suing infringers than they do from paying customers.

I have long advocated conceptualizing copyright suits as a form of unjust enrichment lawsuit, rather than one involving copyrights, and limiting damages to actual damages as measured by an unjust enrichment principle.

No comments: