An Australian court has blocked a US company from accessing details of customers who illegally downloaded the US movie Dallas Buyers Club.
The company, which owns the rights to the 2013 movie, is seeking compensation from people who pirated the movie.
But the Federal Court of Australia said the company had to pay a large bond before it could access their data.
...
Dallas Buyers Club LLC (DBC) said it had identified 4,726 unique IP addresses from which the film was shared online using BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing network.But the Federal Court of Australia said DBC would have to pay A$600,000 ($442,000; £283,000) to obtain customer details.
In a judgement published on Friday, the court also limited any damages DBC could seek from alleged copyright infringers.
The ruling will prevent the company from so-called speculative invoicing.
This is where account holders accused of piracy are threatened with court cases that could result in large damages unless smaller settlement fees are paid.
Is this ruling a model for courts elsewhere?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @10:27AM
customers who illegally downloaded
Downloading is not illegal, unless the film contains child porn.
the film was shared online using BitTorrent
This is called uploading. Up-load-ing.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday August 17 2015, @10:36AM
As a kid, haven't you parents taught you it is not nice to share?
Oh... wait...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @10:45AM
Let me guess, your parents didn't teach you not to share your pussy with everyone, and now you're a slut.
(Score: 2) by Bill Evans on Monday August 17 2015, @10:56AM
Count your negatives (before they hatch).
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @11:06AM
Peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck pecker. Cock'll do ya!
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday August 17 2015, @11:32AM
What's wrong with the negatives?
(given the attitude I perceive, spanning from "Sharing a movie is theft" to "Paying taxes is encouraging waste on social support/health care/public education", the extension of "What's yours is yours, don't share it, it's not nice" would be a sensible teaching the parents should give to their kids for preparing them for this life. In total contrast with, say, 20 years ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @11:54AM
Sharing a movie is not theft! It's unauthorized publication in violation of a legally granted monopoly. When you publish something that was expensive to make, you yourself might also like to enjoy a monopoly on commercial exploitation of your product.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @11:59AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @12:07PM
Arrrrrrrrrrrr those movie producers think they can earn money from their movies? Harr harr we'll show them there be no return on investment! Soon everybody will be working at Starbucks like we freeloading losers!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @02:47PM
No one said there was anything wrong with earning a return on investment. But don't confuse being against copy protection laws with being against someone earning a return on investment. That's a strawman.
and many are critical of overreaching copyprotection laws (ie: 95+ years) written by corporations without the public interest in mind not necessarily a more fair and balanced system. Copy protection laws should be written only for the public benefit. Our current laws are not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @02:50PM
and the topic of this discussion is about copy protection abuse (ie: trumped up charges and threats of very long and expensive lawsuits to hopefully get someone to just settle even if they did nothing wrong). That's what's being criticized here. To spin it as though being against copy protection abuse is being against someone making a return on investment is disingenuous at best. This is why no one takes IP extremists seriously.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Bill Evans on Monday August 17 2015, @05:22PM
It could be that I missed your point entirely. But:
Well, no, they didn't. My parents taught me it is not nice not to share.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday August 17 2015, @06:23PM
"Oh... wait". Did you miss that?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Bill Evans on Monday August 17 2015, @11:23PM
No. I had several ideas as to what "oh... wait" could mean here; the number of negatives was one of them. Nnnnnnever mind. I'll go back to my checkers game now.