Man fined $1.5 million in damages for sharing 10 porn movies

How does the old saying go? Getting a verdict, well that's one thing. Getting the money, that's another thing.

How many IPs downloaded the videos? Did this guy make any profit from the videos? Good luck getting 1.5 million from most people.

Especially from a guy who couldn't afford to travel to Illinois for an "open and shut" trial. It would have cost him his gardening job. Okay, I made all that up. But does anyone really believe that if the guy were rich he'd have been put on trial in the first place?

At least it's nice to know not all federal judges belong to the Hollywood movie or music mafias. Some report to the porn-producers. Maybe one or two even feel beholden to concepts like reasonable penalty for a given offense, but so far they seem to be on vacation when these trials come up.

While he was undoubtedly in the wrong, I think the problem here is the outcome of the ruling. To me, the crime doesn't really fit the punishment. Sure, he pirated a video and shared it - nefariously or not. Sure he failed to turn up in court. All of which are completely illegal and he should be punished for it. So, what... he's charged 1.5 million dollars? 1.5 MILLION dollars. What did they do; get a random number generator, set it to 7 digits and let it rip?

It just seems like they're trying to create fear, instead of actually trying to address the issues involved - There's civil unrest due to lack of food, so you cut the head off of a thief who stole fruit instead of addressing the food problem. You're not going to get 1.5 million dollars from the average "pirate", so scare tactics like these aren't going to do anything but piss more people off.

mav
When you are dealing with this type of settlement, its not about generating fear. It is solely about punitive damages. This gentleman had to know what he was doing was illegal and he did it anyways. This is the punishment. This is what he has to pay. I personally dont like the amount the guy has to pay, but HE has to pay it. Thats the cross he has to bear for sharing copy protected files. Reguardless of my personal opinion, this is what the judge found was a fair and reasonable price for his misdeeds. If anything everyone should know about this ruling because it is so high. Maybe the Judge was secretly trying to get a message out to the rest of the public, I doubt it tho. More then likely it was the plantiff who asked for 3mil and the judge cut it in half. Only the plantiff can assign a value to the product that was shared. The judge has to met out punishment.
Plus im 100% sure there were many C&D orders. Many opportunities for this gentleman to plea out and pay less. Its only when it goes to full trial that you see rulings like this.

Regardless of personal responsibility, that figure just seems ridiculously absurd. I mean, you might as well go and commit armed robbery and steal the physical media; you'll only be set back a hundred grand or so and a few years in prison for an act that's potentially infinitely more damaging to yourself and others. Obviously that's a gross simplification, but you get my point.

I'm not for letting this guy off the hook by any stretch of the imagination. I just have an extremely hard time comprehending the purpose in attaching such bloated fines to these cases. Let's face it, statistically speaking, more than likely it will take this guy another life time to get anywhere close to paying the fine, so what's the point?

mav
I would suggest you look up the total meaning of "punative". Basically it is punishment in order to ensure that the individual NEVER does it again while paying the victims for the crime involved. It is punishment. Its either 1.5 million or some serious jailtime. Personally I see this going to appeals. There is no way any individual entity can or would pay 1.5 mil. I'm betting that it will be dropped to atleast half that. If not more.
Im guessing that number was generated by the lawyers for the plantiff. Something in the 3-4 million. The calculate that by how many times his file was shared vs how much revenue that the porn company lost due to them being able to just download for free instead of going to the porn companies website and having to purchase it. They prolly factored in the lost POTENTIAL revenue of each customer as well. Since it is potential revenue and not actual revenue the Judge had to hack it all in half. Reguardless, this not only sets a precedent about piracy, it also nails home the point that piracy costs everyone. Perp and victim alike. Just fair warning, this is going to get far worse before it gets any better. JUST SAY NO TO PIRACY. If you feel you are smarter then them or you have some workaround, forget it. You have no idea what security measures are embedded into that movie/game/music you just pirated. Its just not worth the headache.

And that's the saddest part of this story...

Apparently a gay porn company hahaha this guy...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flava_Works

mav
I agree, and the only thing that will stop this, is something ppl will not do. Stop pirating!! All it will take is a significant drop in piracy numbers and the lawmakers ect. will back down and move on to the next big issue. Its sad that given rulings like this ppl still wont stop.