West Coast Productions, Combat Zone, Third World Media and Patrick Collins Inc. filed seven suits at U.S. District Court in Martinsburg, W. Va., against the bit torrent users whose IP addresses were tracked.
All of the suits were filed by attorney Kenneth J. Ford at U.S. District Court in Martinsburg, W. Va., and seek to identify each user through their Internet service providers. Each asks for injunctive relief and damages.
West Coast Productions, in their suits, named 2,010 John Does who allegedly shared "Bomb Ass White Booty 14" and 535 for "Juicy White Anal Booty 4."
Meanwhile, Combat Zone filed a claim against 1,037 users who downloaded and distributed "Teen Babysitters" and 245 for "Relax He's My Stepdad 2."
Third World Media sued 1,243 for those who shared "Tokyo Teens."
And Patrick Collins Inc. filed suit against 281 Does for "Pornstar Superheroes" and 118 for "Massive Asses 5."
XBIZ questions posed to attorney Ford, who filed the seven suits, went unreturned at post time. A company called Adult Copyright Company, which operates XXXCopyright.com, takes credit for the piracy claims that Ford filed.
Attorney Gill Sperlein, who is general counsel for Titan Media and also directs the Free Speech Coalition's APAP anti-piracy initiative, said that mass filings over piracy are now part of the economic equation for adult companies.
"It is not surprising that content owners are seeking new ways to try to recoup a small portion of the huge amounts of revenue lost to piracy," Sperlein told XBIZ. "Allowing unfettered illegal distribution of content is simply not sustainable."
But Sperlein said he urges content owners to be extremely careful if their plan is to use the content as a means of embarrassing people who have pirated content.
"Any embarrassment should be because they stole the content, not because they chose to watch it. [P]eople’s viewing choices are a private matter. Just don’t steal what you elect to view. I think the nonindustry lawyers who are brining many of these suits fail to understand this."
XBIZ will add additional details and commentary to this story as they become available.
