Companies in the entertainment industry have a multitude of ways to monetize their content . The theatrical release is usually the most important, followed by the release on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as licensing it to streaming platforms. However, now there is a new way: to sue those who download content .
In countries like Germany or the United States, it is not possible to hack without a VPN, since they have implemented the system of the three strikes . If you get caught three times your IP downloading content by torrent, you can be fined hundreds of euros . These letters border on extortion, since they urge the user to pay in exchange for not going to trial. Thus, hundreds or thousands of these types of lawsuits can be a great source of income for companies.
Letters from a company that owns a movie
Now, there is a new country whose citizens suffer from these types of letters: United Kingdom. There a judge has given permission to the US company Voltage Holdings to send letters to suspected piates in the country. The first to receive it have been customers of the Virgin operator .
In the letter, Voltage Holdings details that it has discovered your IP address by sharing content via torrent . That IP address is owned by Virgin, and therefore the company goes on to contact the operator to transfer the data of who was using that IP address on the day and time the content was being shared. The content in this case is the movie Ava.
The letter assumes that the owner of that IP address has been the one who has downloaded the content, which in many cases is not true. For example, it may have been another member of the household, or even someone stealing the WiFi. In this case, the company leaves the door open for the user to defend himself and argue that he was not the one who downloaded the content.
Innocent until proven otherwise
However, if the user cannot prove that he was not the one who downloaded the content , then he will have to sign an agreement with the company in which he will promise not to violate his copyright again, as well as pay a compensation. The figure they demand has not transpired, but it will probably be hundreds of euros. Recipients have 14 days to respond , but it is recommended that they receive legal advice before doing so.
Virgin has confirmed that it has released user data to the company after being requested by the judge. Such a case could also be repeated in Spain, which has already happened in the past. Fortunately, in these cases, the company does not have any evidence that the user has committed copyright infringement beyond an IP address . It will be the judge who will have to determine whether or not that is true.
Voltage has likely asked to identify users of more carriers . In the past, cases similar to this have been resolved in favor of clients in the UK. In Spain, the last case was resolved differently in two courts, where in one the users were acquitted, and in the other they were convicted.
