The studio that delivers ethnic and shemale adult content filed suit at U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Friday against 10 bit torrent users who are alleged to have distributed 10 Third World films.
Third World plans to seek a restraining order and damages for copyright infringement against the 10 John Does, whose identities will be known after the court clears an order for an Internet service provider to disclose their identities.
The 11-year-old Chatsworth, Calif., company, which sells its content on DVD, video-on-demand, pay-per-view and pay-per-download platforms, has found that tracking down and legally confronting users who share their material on the web has created its own niche industry.
Third World's Ed Hunter told XBIZ that it uses three separate companies to hunt for piracy.
"This is our first lawsuit over pirated material showing up on bit torrent sites," he said. "But we've already settled with several people. Ever since technology has enabled us to track users who distribute our content, we've been seeing this as a new source of revenue."
In the latest bit torrent suit, Third World partnered with Copyright Enforcement Group to track down the alleged pirates.
Matt H of Copyright Enforcement Group told XBIZ that his company represents more than 35 adult companies, and that more bit torrent suits are coming.
"We will be filing suits for five other adult studios very soon that will include a much larger amount of John Does," Matt H said.
The 10 John Does named in Third World's suit — all Verizon subscribers — were targeted between April-June.
The copyrighted movies they allegedly distributed include "Teen Brazil #8," "Miss Big Ass Brazil #4," "Japanese Cougars Gone Wild #2," "Bangkok Suckee Fuckee #7" "Bangkok Suckee Fuckee #5," "She Male Samba Mania #1," "Little Asian Transsexuals #5," "Little Asian Transsexuals #2," "Little Asian Transsexuals #6" and "10 Little Asians #14."
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