Another massive porn Bittorrent copyright lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois

MCGIP, LLC v. Does 1-1,164, No. 10-7675 (N.D.Ill., filed December 2, 2010) [Download Complaint]

Filing of copyright infringement complaint will be precursor to more subpoenas seeking to identify unknown file-sharing defendants.

Another porn company has filed a copyright lawsuit against hundreds of anonymous John Doe defendants who allegedly used the Bittorrent protocol to trade plaintiffs’ copyrighted movies. So ISPs around the country should expect another wave of subpoenas sent to unmask these unknown file sharers. The works allegedly infringed in this case include provocative titles such as “Girlfriend Lost a Bet” and “Iraq Care Package.”

Interestingly, this complaint — unlike the complaints in similar Bittorrent porn copyright cases — contains a paragraph that tries to explain why over a thousand defendants should be joined in one lawsuit:

Joinder is appropriate because, on information and belief, each Defendant was contemporaneously engaged in a coordinated effort with the other Defendants to reproduce and distribute Plaintiff’s copyrighted works to each other and hundreds of third parties via the BitTorrent protocol.

This language appears to be an attempt to head-off arguments like those made by EFF and others in some of the other massive copyright infringement actions against scores of anonymous defendants.

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6 Comments

  1. don
    December 5, 2010

    i really appreciate your posts…especially the ones involving anonymous posters and defamation, thanks.

  2. Rick
    December 5, 2010

    How is personal jurisdiction proper in ND IL for those who aren't in IL? Not to mention venue…

    Even if the infringing acts "took place" in IL, a defendant surely wouldn't know or have any reason to foresee that the alleged infringement would happen in IL, a requisite under Calder and Asahi. Are Courts holding differently for these bit-torrent cases?

  3. Bill Wilson
    December 28, 2010

    Rick raises a couple of good points…methinks I need to go read the Calder and Asahi decisions.

    Keep up the good work, Evan.

  4. Andy
    January 3, 2011

    So if a law firm is requesting personal information from an ISP, does that mean they are most definitely ready to sue the John Doe?

  5. Steve
    January 17, 2011

    Like the others, I really appreciate your posts, Rick.

    I downloaded the complaint in MCGIP, LLC v. Does 1-1,164, No. 10-7675, using the link you provided, but the document does not include 'Exhibit A', as described in the complaint. Is it possible to download the exhibits to court documents such as these?

    Thanks, and keep up the good work!

  6. Jim
    February 8, 2011

    Evan,

    Great blog! Any updates regarding his other lawsuits? I read that some have been voluntarily dismissed and that others were dismissed by the presiding Judge.

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