LOS ANGELES — At least 240 John Doe defendants have been targeted in 15 porn BitTorrent copyright infringement suits filed in the past week.
The lion's share of suits this week went to West Coast Productions, which filed five suits against five individuals at federal court in Boston, and Malibu Media LLC, which notched five suits targeting 75 in Philadelphia.
(XBIZ publishes weekly reports each Thursday on porn BitTorrent filings around the country.)
Newcomers to porn BitTorrent filings this week include softcore distributor Malibu Media, which in one of the five cases sued those who allegedly poached and traded "Tiffany Teenagers in Love," and Smash Pictures, which filed its first two suits at U.S. District Court in Sacramento, Calif., over such films as "Bridesmaids XXX Porn Parody." Both of Smash's suits target defendants listed as "unknown."
Other adult entertainment companies involved in BitTorrent litigation in the past seven days include Metro Media Entertainment , which filed against 47; Devil's Film, which filed against 58; and Third Degree Films, which filed against 53. Those three suits all were filed at federal court in Baltimore.
Each of the suits ask federal judges to order ISPs to disclose user identities of the unnamed John Doe defendants and claim infringement damages of up to the statutory maximum of $150,000 per Doe.
