Thursday, Jun 10, 2010    Text size: 

In addition to ordering Brown liable for the $1.75 million in punitive damages, the judge in the case also held him liable for 70 counts of willful infringement and also included a permanent injunction against future theft of content.

"Clearly, we're pleased with the court's decision," COO Brian Dunlap told XBIZ. "This decision is yet another example of the court's acknowledging our rights to significant judgments, and, more importantly in this case, a law-breaker's considerable financial liability for violating our copyrights."

Dunlap adds the message this judgment sends is clear.

"The message this judgment should send to online content pirates is that there are two very likely outcomes to your illegal activities: considerable legal fees and even greater judgments against you from the courts," he said.

"However a content pirate might justify their behavior, the courts are ready and willing to uphold the law, decide on behalf of the intellectual property holders, and hit them with massive judgments. Content thieves can not, and will never benefit from their illegal activity to the degree a court will hold them liable for that activity - in other words, the rewards simply will not justify the costs. Mr. Brown surely knows that now."

Dunlap says that even though the company probably won't receive the full award from Brown, Corbin Fisher general counsel Marc Randazza told XBIZ that they will nevertheless "engage in collection efforts as aggressively as the law will allow. If you steal our content, we will come after you as hard as we can."

"Here is a man who felt he could get away with stealing from us, and felt he could do so free of consequence, with nothing but his own financial benefit being the outcome," Dunlap added. "Now, however, he'll have this judgment hanging over him and his credit, and spend countless years dealing with our efforts to collect on what the courts determined we are entitled to."

Brown, a Pittsburgh resident, allegedly ran his own counterfeit DVD operation and was named as a co-defendant in the case that involves several individuals using eBay to sell and distribute the studio’s pirated content.

Corbin Fisher said in the suit that defendants illegally manufactured hundreds, if not thousands, of counterfeit DVDs of no less than 136 Corbin Fisher videos altogether.

Corbin Fisher noted in the suit that some of the eBay ads were so brazen that they directed potential customers to the CorbinFisher.com website.

This is the second judgment in the case awarded to Corbin Fisher. In February, the studio won a $990,000 judgment against Texas entrepreneur A.D. Trice who allegedly burned 66 Corbin Fisher videos to DVD and sold them on eBay.