FORT WORTH, Texas — Adult studio Corbin Fisher, which went after a Texas man who petitioned a bankruptcy court to relieve him of a porn BitTorrent judgment, has been awarded a default judgment of more than three times the amount it had sought.
Corbin Fisher earlier this year was successful in its suit against Juan Carlos Mancera for illegally trading its movies on BitTorrent networks. But Mancera petitioned the bankruptcy court to relieve him of any judgment (Corbin Fisher at the time was seeking only $20,000, the amount that Mancera sought to have discharged).
Later, the studio intervened in the bankruptcy proceeding and asked the judge to award a default judgment.
“This judgment dispels the myth that Liberty will not chase a torrenter into bankruptcy court,” Corbin Fisher exec Brian Dunlap said. "Mr. Mancera will now have a $65,000 judgment following him around for at least 20 years, and we intend to have our lawyers pursue him through any and all legal means."
Marc Randazza, general counsel for Corbin Fisher, said that he's heard that some defense lawyers have espoused that Bit Torrent defendants should run to bankruptcy court to get out of infringement awards.
“I have told many of them informally that it wouldn't work," he said. "Bankruptcy is not available for intentional torts, nor for criminal activity. Copyright infringement is both.”