OAKLAND, Calif. — A Bay Area man is suing Hard Drive Productions claiming he has been harassed by its attorneys to settle "baseless and unfounded claims" in a porn BitTorrent infringement suit.
Seth Abrahams, in his suit, says that he is one of 118 anonymous John Doe defendants sued for allegedly trading Hard Drive's "Amateur Allure — Samantha Saint" movie.
But Abrahams claims that he had no part in poaching and trading the movie, and that the adult company said he was liable for copyright infringement by merely having an unsecured wireless network or router.
In his suit, Abrahams claims that Hard Drive's letters to pursue statutory damages up to $150,000 are "designed to threaten, notify, intimidate, embarrass, shame and to coerce" him into paying a settlement demand of $3,400.
Abrahams' suit, which seeks unspecified damages and a declaration from the court that no infringement has occurred, also alleges that Hard Drive Productions' law firm posted on WeFightPiracy.com that Abrahams is one of the firm's "Top 25 Pirates," defaming him.
In addition, Abrahams alleges in his suit that Hard Drive used unlicensed private investigators in its probe of targeted BitTorrent downloaders, calling the studio and its attorneys "guilty of unclean hands due to its agents' operation and use of honeypots or use of a third-party's services as honeypots."
Abrahams also claims that even if he downloaded the content, he'd be immune from liability because Hard Drive's work is not copyrightable "as the work does not promote the progress of science and useful arts as required by the U.S. Constitution, including but not limited to the fact that the work is obscene ...."
Abrahams attorney, Steven Yuen, was unavailable for XBIZ comment. Attorneys at Steele Hansmeier/Prenda Law, which represents Hard Drive, did not immediately respond to XBIZ for comment.
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PORN BITTORRENT FILINGS: There were five porn BitTorrent lawsuits filed in the past seven days at federal courts around the U.S.
Elegant Angel filed two infringement suits against 10 Does in California and one in Washington; Malibu Media filed two suits, each with 10 defendants, in California; and Raw Films filed against 10 in California.
XBIZ publishes a weekly report each Thursday on porn BitTorrent legal filings in the U.S.
