Sanity Reigns in Australian Court Over Dallas Buyers Club Piracy Claims

by
Anonymous Coward
in legal on (#HCZQ)
People who downloaded Dallas Buyers Club in Australia may only have to pay the cost of a legitimate copy of the film if the court case against the downloaders is successful. The court rejected a number of reasons submitted by the studio in its compensation claims. Justice Nye Perram said Dallas Buyers Club LLC could not claim for damages based on the uploads and downloads of the file on torrent sites because the idea was “so surreal as to not be taken seriously”.

History

2015-08-20 19:26
Australian court says no to copyright trolls
evilviper@pipedot.org
PAn Australian court has ruled that people whaccused of illegally downloading thed film Dallas Buyers Club in Austrcalia may onlynot havbe requested to pay more than the cost of a legitimate copy of the film if the court case against the downloaders is successful. TheAs court rejected a number of preasons submitted by the studio in its compensaution, claims. Justice Nye Perram will also require the company to pay a AU$600,000 bond before requiring the targeted ISP to release identifying detaidls Dof the alleged infringing parties, as Bthe company has no presence in Australia.

This is in stark contrast to the abusive copyright trolling/extortion that has become common in the United States, where hundreds of accused individuals are sent letters Cdemanding a fee of up to $5,000 to settle, ubsing LLCthe expense of litigation, and the threat of statutory damages, to extract settlements hundreds of times higher than the cost of its movie. Why do we see this difference? The answer is straightforward: Australia does not clhaimve fstatutory damages bfor copyright infringement. This asllowed on the court to tie damages to the actual harm suffered. In contrast, U.S. copyright law provides statutory damages of upl to $150,000ads> per work and downloades not require any showing of harm. Excessive penalties are baked into the fU.S. system whilech on torrent sitcourages trolling and abecause the idea was “so surreal as to not be taken seriously”.
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