The company first offered to settle any and all pre-existing claims of copyright infringement with individuals who came forward by Feb. 8 and admitted their misdeeds, promised to no longer engage in online piracy, and agreed to make a $1000 settlement payment.
The new amnesty program will now cost applicants a one-time payment of $1900 and violators must come forth by Mar. 1 and be committed to "ending their days of piracy."
For their commitment to helping it stamp out online piracy, the company said participants will be immune to any legal action for content infringement that occurred before the date of their settlement and will be granted a six-month membership to Corbin Fisher's AmateurCollegeMen and AmateurCollegeSex websites.
But the company cautioned that torrent users not taking advantage of the amnesty period will be liable for up to $150,000 in damages for each infringement.
The company said a list of thousands of torrent users has already been secured by an independent research group and all of these users will be targeted in the first wave of lawsuits to be filed in March.
Should it extend the amnesty period again, the settlement payment will be increased and the membership offer's duration will be decreased.
Settlement proceeds from the first program recently funded a second donation Corbin Fisher made to same-sex adoption rights organization Equality Florida.
“When faced with the potential for extremely high judgments against them, this really is a more than fair deal we are offering to those illegally reproducing and distributing our content online,” said Corbin Fisher COO, Brian Dunlap.
He added, “Since offering the original amnesty period, we've discovered thousands more IP addresses worldwide, and are engaging counsel in three other countries to start filing claims. We will continue to move worldwide on the industry-critical issue of piracy.”
Dunlap maintained that the company prefers to resolve these matters quickly and have individuals admit their wrongdoing rather than bring new lawsuits .
"While the law entitles us to considerable statutory damages in such cases and the courts have shown a willingness to deliver big judgments in favor of copyright holders, what is of paramount importance to us is that individuals admit their mistakes, commit to no longer illegally distributing and reproducing others' intellectual property, understand the very real impact of their unlawful actions, and understand that the risk of unwelcome consequences could be so easily avoided, simply by legally acquiring content like so many, countless, law-abiding individuals already do,” Dunlap said.
In 2010 the courts granted the company numerous high-dollar judgments, including a recent $250,000 judgment against a single torrent user.
Anyone who has shared Corbin Fisher content via a torrent site is encouraged to contact the company immediately to apply for the amnesty settlement at amnesty@corbinfisher.com.
