A film production company affiliated with with Voltage Pictures, LLC have filed recent copyright infringement lawsuits against “John Doe” defendants in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.
The claims were filed by Fathers & Daughters Nevada, LLC, which owns the rights to the Russell Crowe drama Fathers and Daughters.
Both of the new lawsuits allege copyright infringement by the defendants through their use of BitTorrent file-sharing software to copy and distribute Fathers and Daughters. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that “each Defendant engaged in a concerted action with other Defendants to reproduce and distribute Plaintiff’s Motion Picture by exchanging pieces of the Motion Picture file in a torrent swarm.” The plaintiff seeks statutory damages pursuant to the Copyright Act, attorney’s fees and costs, and an injunction against further infringement.
As with other similar lawsuits in other jurisdictions, Voltage Pictures, LLC is the likely instigator, with distribution rights or co-production credits with regard to each title. Voltage Pictures is said to be the driving force behind hundreds of similar BitTorrent copyright actions that have been filed in recent years.
This includes prior cases in the Southern District of Texas. In 2014 and 2015, Voltage affiliate Dallas Buyers Club, LLC filed numerous Houston cases regarding the film Dallas Buyers Club. On one day during the same time frame, Voltage collaborator Cobbler Nevada, LLC filed copyright infringement suits against over 350 John Doe parties over rights to the Adam Sandler flop The Cobbler.
These more recent Southern District filings were each made by Houston attorneys Joshua S. Wyde and Gary J. Fischman. Case listings with links to complaints are below.
Parties and subscribers receiving ISP notices of these actions can contact attorney Benjamin Justus for a free consultation regarding possible options.
Filed: 05/10/2016
Case No.4:16-cv-01315
Fathers & Daughters Nevada, LLC v. Does 1-10
Filed: 07/05/2016
Case No. 4:16-cv-1968
Fathers & Daughters Nevada, LLC v. Does 1-13