Most people can agree that Popcorn Time, a service where you can watch pretty much anything, is shady – well, it's outright piracy – but that hasn't discouraged its fans. That might be changing.
The makers of early 2015 Adam Sandler flick, The Cobbler, just launched a lawsuit against 11 Popcorn Time users, TorrentFreak reports. The lawsuit says that the users copied and distributed the film without authorization through Popcorn Time. Why the users picked The Cobbler of all mediocre movies is unknown.
Individual names aren't in the suit, but the 11 people are called out by their IP address and their ISP, as well as the date and time they accessed the movie.
In the suit, the filmmakers complain that Popcorn Time serves no legal purpose, it only exists "to steal copyrighted content."
To right the alleged wrong, the plaintiffs seek $150,000 in damages and fees, though cases such as this often settle earlier in the process. Seeing how The Cobbler has a 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, maybe the filmmakers are just seeking more exposure at any cost.
While it may seem strange at first that individuals using a service such as Popcorn Time can be held accountable, it actually makes sense. Since it launched in 2014 Popcorn Time has made it easier than ever to stream copyrighted content and at some point movie studios were bound to notice. For 11 users in Oregon that time is now.