Updates on Those Piracy Lawsuits….Part 2
OP/ED by Jake Harris
In part one of my update I spoke of the fact that the courts seem to be communicating to lawyers and copyright holders that in order to file copyright infringement/piracy suits against people they need to have a lot of information in hand before doing so. The reasoning behind this is incredibly simple: In the US if you own the copyright to a movie and you believe that someone else is infringing on that copyright it is your responsibility to do the legwork…not the legal system.
Yes, the legal system will try them and determine whether or not they are guilty but unlike a criminal case such as murder, rape, DUI, etc… the state/federal government will not actually make the case for the person or organization that was wronged. What every single one of these ‘John Doe’ cases have done is ask someone else to gather the evidence, ask someone else to do all the work, and ask someone else to foot the bill. Time Warner Cable isn’t obligated to track down thousands of potential copyright infringers on their own dime. No court in this country would commit to the paperwork, man-hours, or potential legal and civil rights headaches these lawyers and copyright holders are asking them to do.
What we’re seeing are groups of people and businesses who have been seeing profits declining and are simply searching for a quick way to recoup some of that money. Lawyers promising them easy open and shut cases are selling them a false bill of goods. * Who wouldn’t be interested in that?! Elderly people across the country buy into scams by the thousands simply because they believe someone else will simply give them free money. Heck, if my IQ wasn’t above 34 I’d probably be scammed right along with them. The thing of it is…well…I mean…um…WAKE UP PEOPLE! ** When a lawyer promises you something that has failed miserably in the past take a second and ask them why it will succeed in the present. If the laws of our country haven’t changed, no new legal precedents have been set, and judges are tossing out similar cases in droves you need to rethink things.
*My editorial assumption.
**The people I’m referring to here are the porn producers and copyright holders trying to file and win these lawsuits.
Do copyright infringement cases hold up in court? Absolutely. Is copyright infringement going on right now? Absolutely. Is it currently cost-effective to go after copyright infringers? Not in the least. Instead of investing vast resources into catching people who are pirating your content why don’t you invest in ways to secure your product? Why don’t you make it harder for them to pirate it in the first place? In my next piece I’ll address this very thing in more detail and discuss why Pink Visual might be on to something.
I will now take a moment to really opine here. Aside from the technological standpoint of porn piracy and aside from the ever-growing attitude of people in this country wanting everything for free, I feel that the single greatest barrier to porn profits are the ideas being generated by the large porn studios.
The Big Bang Theory Porn Parody?
Not Three’s Company Porn Parody?
The Cosby Show Porn Parody?
Avatar Porn Parody?
The Simpsons Porn Parody?
By show of hands I want to honestly see how many of you actually masturbated to any of the above movies. Yes, it can be a fun niche thing to watch. I admit I enjoy watching some of my favorite stars do something a little different, a little quirky, and a lot outside what I typically think of as their ‘comfort zone’ in porn. But after buying and renting a few of these I realized that I was simply throwing money at a really expensive entertaining BTS film with some of my favorite porn stars. I most definitely wasn’t investing in anything that I will go back to again and again and that’s the problem. After just a few experiences with this genre I realized that it wasn’t what I needed from my porn and I highly doubt most people would disagree with me on this.
I pay for each and every movie and scene I watch and because of that I want to make sure that I get my money’s worth. Unfortunately an overproduced feature porn film just isn’t what it used to be and no longer gets my dollar.
Coming up in Part 3…. Will Pink Visual’s strategy work? What does the closure of two massive torrent sites, and the recent abandonment of a huge porn piracy case in the UK mean here in the US?