More Mass Porn Copyright Infringement Lawsuits Get Dumped

from the not-looking-so-good dept

In the middle of December, we wrote about a judge in West Virginia tossing out all but one of the defendants in one of the many, many "mass" copyright infringement lawsuits that were filed in 2010. The same judge has also done the same with another of the lawsuits, dropping 7,097 defendants. This one involved the movie Batman XXX: A Porn Parody, from Axel Braun Productions. When you think about it, of course, it's rather amusing that such a lawsuit was filed over this movie, since it very clearly relies on fair use to defend using Batman. To then get upset about alleged infringement of your own work is somewhat ironic. However, it appears that Axel Braun is not backing down. His response after all of those subpoenas were quashed:

"Heads will roll. I said it once, and I'll say it again, Fuck 'em all. I didn't get into this fight thinking it was going to be an easy one, but I can assure you that I am not quitting."

Well, okay, then, but you may go broke trying. Of course, as one of our commenters astutely pointed out, under the Copyright Act, filing against all of these defendants in a single lawsuit is actually a really bad idea for those suing, since the Copyright Act says that statutory damages are per work and not per infringement. Thus, if you have 7,000 defendants accused of sharing a single file in a single lawsuit, it likely would mean a single statutory damages award, split between them all.

In the meantime, in another one of these lawsuits -- again, involving a movie that relies on fair use to exist -- Time Warner Cable has refused to reveal more than 10 names per month. The lawyer, Evan Stone, who's been filing a lot of these mass lawsuits lately, is pissed off about this, but apparently the client, Larry Flynt Publishing, has decided not to push the issue, since it has separate business dealings with TWC. Of course, I also do wonder if the public campaign to request Larry Flynt reconsider these lawsuits, in the form of an open letter to Larry Flynt, had an impact as well...

Filed Under: copyright, joinder, lawsuits
Companies: axel braun productions, larry flynt publishing, time warner cable