You Could Be Liable for $150k in Penalties Per Downloaded Song
US anti-piracy group Rightscorp has been awarded a patent by the Australian Patent Office for a method of tracking internet piracy.
Rightscorp is known for its investigations of BitTorrent and other peer to peer networks. It sends notices to internet services providers (ISPs), threatening penalties of up to $150,000 for copyright violations, hoping the notices are passed onto consumers.
It works like this: users accused by Rightscorp are found via IP addresses appearing in BitTorrent download swarms. If ISPs agree to forward Rightscorp's notices—and an increasing number of them are doing so—the users get notices that they could be liable for $150,000 in damages. Unless, that is, they click on a provided link and agree to settle their case at a low, low price. Typically, it's $20 per song infringed.
A good example is the recent case of the producers of movie Dallas Buyers Club, who won the right to send letters to Australians who had illegally downloaded the movie. The court will review the letters to make sure there is no “speculative invoicing” – claiming that individuals could face penalties far in excess of the cost to the company.
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