Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
Indianapolis, Indiana – A copyright attorney for Malibu Media, LLC d/b/a X-Art.com of Los Angeles, California has sued alleging that an unidentified Indiana resident, “John Doe,” engaged in BitTorrent transactions associated with 241 files owned by Malibu Media between October 6, 2013 and May 2, 2014. Malibu Media asserts that these alleged acts of copyright infringement took place in the Southern District of Indiana.
The “John Doe” defendant in this copyright infringement lawsuit allegedly used the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol to illegally download, copy and distribute elements of various works of Malibu Media’s copyrighted material. Malibu Media has also claimed that the defendant is a “persistent online infringer.” It claims that “John Doe” has infringed 30 separate copyrighted works owned by Malibu Media. Of these 30 works, 27 have been registered by the U.S. Copyright Office. Three registrations remain pending.
Malibu Media seeks a permanent injunction against infringing activities; an order by the court to remove infringing materials from all computers of the defendant; an award of statutory damages pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 504(a) and (c) and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
Practice Tip #1: In its complaint, filed by a copyright lawyer, Malibu Media alleges that the infringing transfer and copying of this copyrighted work was accomplished by the Defendant using BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol. Plaintiff states that the BitTorrent protocol makes even small computers with low bandwidth capable of participating in large data transfers for copying large files such as movies.
Practice Tip #2: Under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(1), a copyright owner may elect actual or statutory damages. Statutory damages range from a sum not less than $750 to not more than $30,000 per infringed work. The determination of the exact amount is left to the discretion of the court. The docket report shows that, in this case, Malibu Media is demanding $150,000.
The suit was filed by Paul J. Nicoletti. The case was assigned to District Judge Sarah
Evans Barker and Magistrate Judge Debra McVicker Lynch and assigned Case No. 1:14-cv-00732-SEB-DML.