Comcast, Verizon, AT&T Sue to End Movie Piracy

manufacturing companies behind Dallas Buyers Club, I feel beautiful s Colossal Internet service providers are being sued for facilitating mass piracy of their movies.

Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Comcast have faced copyright lawsuits accusing them of turning a blind eye to customers who illegally stream and download pirated movies. Manufacturing companies are trying to force ISPs to implement policies that include shutting down repeat offenders and blocking certain pirated websites.

A trio of lawsuits filed in September, the most recent of which was filed Tuesday in federal court in Pennsylvania, come from Voltage Pictures, After Productions and Ammo Entertainment, among others. Two law firms, Dovel & Luner and Culpepper IP, represent the manufacturing brands.

The lawsuit alleges that Internet Service Providers knowingly facilitated copyright infringement by their users. The plaintiffs say they sent hundreds of thousands of specific infringement notices to Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. They say they’ve sent over 100,000 reports to Comcast about illegal downloads, for example. I feel beautiful using your services. The lawsuit seeks to hold ISPs accountable for not investigating.

“Comcast has failed to take significant steps to prevent ongoing violations by these Comcast customers,” the complaint states. “Comcast was unable to terminate the accounts associated with these IP addresses or take any significant action in response to these reports.” Comcast often did not even deliver messages to users of its Internet service or inform them of the messages or their content. “

Therefore, the ISPs infringed the plaintiffs’ movies because they had the right to terminate the accounts of users who violated copyright law, according to the lawsuit.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed in 1988, criminalizes services that aim to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works. Provides liability protection for service providers.

But manufacturing companies argue that ISPs don’t have a safe haven under the law because it only protects companies if they adopt and enforce policies that include account termination for repeat infringers.

The lawsuit alleges that no ISPs maintain policies that force them to ban customers who repeatedly receive notices of copyright infringement. In accordance with AT&T policy, a subscriber’s receipt of multiple copyright notices is the only factor AT&T uses to terminate services. Comcast says its policy is to charge repeat infringers, but it only counts the number of violations a customer receives in a month, rather than the total number of violations. Verizon’s policy, by comparison, makes it very costly for manufacturing companies to report copyright infringement and does nothing to combat piracy even when it is aware, the lawsuit says.

“Verizon was unable to close customer accounts even after becoming aware of repeated breaches in these customers’ accounts,” the complaint states. “For example, Verizon Communications Inc. allowed hundreds of breaches on certain accounts despite receiving at least as many breach notifications for those accounts. And Verizon customers have reported receiving multiple breaches from Verizon without closing their accounts.

AT&T, Comcast and Verizon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Voltage has a history of litigating to protect its intellectual property. In 2014, he sued dozens of people who hacked him. Dallas Buyers Club, which was nominated for Best Picture at the previous year’s Oscars. Several were forced to accept four-figure deals. The company sued Grande Communications, an Internet provider in Texas, last year for preventing illegal downloads.