In a new tactic, notorious Salem, Oregon attorney Carl D. Crowell has combined claims involving multiple different films into one lawsuit against a single unfortunate Doe defendant.  Like countless prior copyright suits Crowell has filed in the U.S. District Court, District of Oregon, these allege infringement of the films via the use of BitTorrent file-sharing software.

The suits include as plaintiffs Dallas Buyers Club, LLC, Cobbler Nevada, LLC, and PTG Nevada, LLC.  DBC, LLC of course owns copyrights in Dallas Buyers Club, the 2013 film that has been the subject of many prior copyright lawsuits against hundreds or thousands of defendants across the country.   Cobbler Nevada controls the rights in The Cobbler, a terrible film starring Adam Sandler that was released last year just months before the first of scores of copyright lawsuits were launched in numerous U.S. Courts.  PTG Nevada’s entry is a Nicolas Cage film, Pay The Ghost, that made its national BitTorrent trolling debut in the Oregon District Court.

A commonality among the three plaintiffs is their affiliation with Voltage Pictures, LLC, which has distribution or co-production credits with regard to each the films.

One can only assume the combination of multiple works is intended to drive up the potential statutory damages that may be recovered from the defendant.  Under the Copyright Act, these damages, which range from $750 to $150,000 (if infringements are deemed “willful”), are typically tabulated on a “per work” basis.  In addition to damages, the plaintiffs seek injunctive relief, attorney’s fees, and costs.

Case No: 3:15-cv-02020
Dallas Buyers Club, LLC et al v. Doe-24.22.91.38

Filed: 10/27/2015