Two film production companies affiliated with Nu Image/Millennium Films have filed BitTorrent copyright infringement suits in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon,, continuing the status of the Oregon District as a testing ground for new film titles in BitTorrent litigation.
One group of cases were filed by ME2 Proudctions Inc., and they involve the 2016 action thriller Mechanic: Resurrection, which stars Jessica Alba and Jason Stratham. As of this posting, the film has a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, although some critics found it preferable to its predecessor, The Mechanic, which was also the subject of prior BitTorrent lawsuits.
Another suit was brought in the name of September Productions Inc., which holds rights in the 2015 film Septembers in Shiraz, described by Variety as an “autobiographically inspired tale of a wealthy Jewish family in Tehran suffering under Iran’s shift to fundamentalist Islam.”
The new lawsuits in Oregon allege copyright infringement by “Doe” parties through their use of BitTorrent file-sharing software. Along with generic allegations of BitTorrent-based copyright infringement, the suits seek statutory damages pursuant to the Copyright Act, attorney’s fees and costs, and an injunction against further infringement.
UPDATE (2/1/17): An additional action was filed by ME2 Productions. Notably, the complaint reflects the continuation of the tactic of making passing reference to the alleged infringement of one or more additional film titles, although the rights-holders associated with such titles are not plaintiffs in the actions. As Troll Defense has reported, ISP subscribers and Does implicated in these cases should prepare for settlement demands based on these additional, not-filed claims.
The complaints allege that each company is “an affiliate of Nu Image / Millennium Films, production companies and distributors of a notable catalog of major motion pictures.” In addition to hundreds of recent suits involving London Has Fallen, several other films distributed or produced by Nu Image/Millennium have been the subject of prior enforcement actions, including Criminal, Automata, The Humbling, The Expendables, Charlie Countryman and Bad Lieutenant.
Like many other similar lawsuits filed in the District of Oregon, these cases were filed by Salem, OR attorney Carl D. Crowell and Crowell Law. A case listing with links to the complaints is below.
Parties and subscribers receiving ISP notices of these actions can contact attorney Benjamin Justus for a free consultation regarding possible options.
Filed: 08/31/2016
Case No. 3:16-cv-01746
September Productions, Inc. v. Doe-73.240.174.9
Filed: 08/29/2016
Case No. 3:16-cv-01724
ME2 Productions, Inc. v. Doe-76.27.219.56
Filed: 08/29/2016
Case No. 3:16-cv-01725
ME2 Productions, Inc. v. Doe-73.164.239.74
Filed: 01/28/2017
Case No. 3:17-cv-00158
ME2 Productions, Inc. v. Doe-24.21.195.166