Home / Channel / Popcorn Time users are settling their lawsuits

Popcorn Time users are settling their lawsuits

The release of Popcorn Time was a watershed moment for piracy. Just as Bittottent made it easier than the early days of file sharing, Popcorn Time changed the game once again and made torrenting just as simple as streaming content from Netflix. As much as this could have been a moment where movie studios considered their actions in the face of what is arguably, a superior service to what they offered, they took the age old route and just started suing people. And now some of them are settling.

The particular studio that went after the downloaders in this instance was the one behind the Adam Sandler vehicle, The Cobbler, which sued 11 alleged pirates in August this year, five of which have now admitted their guilt and settled for an undisclosed sum, according to TorrentFreak. However, the amount was said by the organisation behind the suit to be less than the statutory minimum of $750.

popcorntime2

While this is the one of the first instances of Popcorn Time related lawsuits against downloaders, the series of events leading to the settlement is very familiar. The movie studio in question contacts the alleged defendants through legal counsel, those individuals admit their guilt and settle.

Due to the popularity and proliferation of Popcorn Time and similar services, it may be the case that a new round of lawsuits and copyright trolling are set to take place, especially if potential claimants believe it is as simple as sending legal correspondence to the alleged infringers. One of the biggest potential pitfalls for such entities is the legal costs involved, which is why they tend to aim for the lowest hanging fruit.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Some lawyers have traditionally advised that anyone accused of illegally streaming or downloading content to ignore or deny it, as often the only evidence of guilt is an IP address linked to a bill-payer, which is rarely considered grounds for identification or proof of guilt.

Become a Patron!

Check Also

EKWB Whistleblower Dan Henderson speaks to KitGuru

Following on from our recent interview with EKWB's CEO, Leo is now getting the other side of the story, straight from Dan Henderson himself, the one who initially acted as the 'whistleblower' for EKWB's internal issues.

7 comments

  1. Sooo… people were caught using Popcorn Time. People were caught using popcorn time to watch an Adam Sandler movie. Go direct to jail , do not pass go……

  2. I’m pretty sure these people had grounds to counter sue in that they were visually and audibly assaulted by the Studio’s Adam Sandler movie.

  3. Direct links from filehosting sites then!
    Good luck AP2P!

  4. Direct links from filehosting sites then!
    Good luck AP2P!

  5. They should have used a vpn. It works wonders.

  6. I understand what a VPN is but I’m wondering how effective it is. Are you certain that all these people definitely weren’t using a VPN? The way I understand it is that it keeps you safe most of the time but there’s always that chance. So for example, if a person lives in the US and connects to a VPN server in the Netherlands, it would be extremely hard for copyright owners or US law enforcement to go after this person since they are (to them) in another country?

  7. The way they find out who you are and what you’re doing is via your IP address. When using a VPN the data you are trying to download/upload from your PC is Encrypted sent to another server that then de-crypts the data. thats the bit that keeps to safe. There’s no IP to track. You take on the IP of the server you are connecting to. as long as the owner of the server doesn’t log your details a VPN is highly effective.