Copyright Lawsuits Related to Illegal Downloads Are Rising in Arizona

[Len]

Jordan Rose and Lauren Reynolds are seeing a number of new lawsuits being filed in Arizona involving copyright infringement related to purported downloads of movies, pornography and other material online.

“Regular people, business leaders, moms are being sued for allegedly illegally downloading movies and pornography from file-sharing programs,” said Rose, managing partner of the Scottsdale law firm where Reynolds works as an attorney.

Rose said she has seen these cases nationally since 2010 but is noticing an uptick in such lawsuits in Arizona.

“We have seen several filed in Arizona in 2017 and believe this is just the start,” Rose said.

The civil lawsuits are filed for first identifying the IP address that allegedly downloaded copyright materials. The lawsuits are filed under unnamed John Doe clients.

“These copyright infringement cases are supposedly an attempt to curb piracy, but they have been criticized as coercive because the copyright owner offers to settle for less than it would cost to hire an attorney to defend the case,” Rose said. “Moreover, approximately 30 percent of the time, the person being sued is innocent.”

Defendants are often asked to settle for $3,000 to $5,000.

If the case involves porn downloads, it gets more complicated for defendants — including businesses.

“They send letters and call consumers threatening to amend the complaint and personally name them unless they settle usually $3,000 to $5,000,” Rose said. “This step is even more coercive when the content is pornography, because consumers do not want to be named in a federal lawsuit, let alone one alleging illegal porn downloading. Most consumers settle at this point, even if they are innocent.”

That sounds a lot like extortion.

In 2016, two attorneys based in Minnesota but with ties to Chicago and Florida were charged for alleged blackmail in porn copyright infringement. Prosecutors say the attorneys actually also produced adult films and content as part of the alleged scheme.

Blake Whiteman, an attorney with the Jennings Haug Cunningham LLP in Phoenix, said the download lawsuits are not legally extortion if the material is copyrighted, and there is some legal basis for the lawsuit.