Illegal File-Sharer Ordered to Pay $1.5 Million
Kywan Fisher, who didn't show up in court, was caught through encryption code integrated into movies he originally purchased.
Illinois federal court Judge John Lee has ordered illegal file-sharer Kywan Fisher to pay $1.5 million to adult entertainment company Flava Works.
Flava Works sued Fisher due to his sharing of 10 movies he had paid for through BitTorrent. The damages amount was decided by fining Fisher $150,000 per movie. The ruling has made this case the largest damages award ever ordered in a BitTorrent case.
Through the integration of an encryption code inserted in the films he had bought, Flava Works caught Fisher sharing its movies by tracing the code.
"Defendant's conduct was willful to the extent that he copied or distributed Flava Works, Inc.' intellectual property at least 10 times and caused the videos to be infringed or downloaded at least 3,449 times," Flava Works said.
Fisher was ordered to pay such a large fee mainly due to the fact that he failed to show up in court, therefore not having any defense.
"Given the materials submitted by Plaintiff in support of its motion and in light of the absence of any objection by Defendant, Plaintiff's motion for entry of default against defendant 11 is granted. Judgment is entered in favor of the Plaintiff Flava Works, Inc., and against the Defendant Kywan Fisher in the amount of One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,500,000.00)," Judge Lee said.
Sharing files illegally isn't as near as bad as running a scareware fraud, though; a woman was ordered to pay a total of $163 million for targeting more than a million computers.

Sheer insanity here and weaselman: someone in his home could have uploaded the digitally marked files without his permission. Enough said. If I had been on this jury, I wouldn't have given this company one red cent.
He had purchased actual copies, ripped them and put them online through bit torrent.
Flava Works sued Fisher due to his sharing of 10 movies he had paid for.Then sharing them through Bit Torrent.
In its evidence, Flava revealed that it had embedded unique codes in the copies of its films that customers pay to view. Digital detective work connected the code in the pirated films back to Mr Fisher, who had earlier signed up as a customer of Flava and paid to view the movies.
Come on Toms Hardware sort yourself out with the right information and facts.
Sheer insanity here and weaselman: someone in his home could have uploaded the digitally marked files without his permission. Enough said. If I had been on this jury, I wouldn't have given this company one red cent.
It was just poor grammar; something that we see too much of, unfortunately.
versus
or
Exactly this. It's as if the "Justice System" is really just a copyright system.
It's like they're screaming:
You got content and patents you want to overly protect at the cost of victimizing a citizen? We'll help you. Other than that, you're on your own.
Everything related to copyright infringement is excessive since the people voted into the officer is lobbied to heaven and guess who they listen too? The bribers of the voters?
Read people. It's fundamental. Despite THG not being able to speak English, the judge in this case can. $1.5 million is what Flava Works asked for. Since the guy never showed up to court, he had no defense, and the court's ruling automatically defaulted to what the plaintiff asked for.
So I don't feel sorry about him, but, it is possible his actions caused damage, but the fines are kind of excessive, considering people might only rent the video for $7, that is all those people who saw it have money to spend in the first place. Pirates are cheap, some don't have money. Anyways I am not sure why the studio thinks it deserves to make a premium for its content, so it should be lowered to something that they can collect on, but just enough that the dumb ass doesn't pirate again. Although I think the judge is a moron for siding for an unreasonable amount they can never collect on.
DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! Knowing we legally can DL stuff like this and pass it around for personal use legally is one of the many reasons I love our wonderful country and it's wonderful laws. The true north strong and FREE!
I mean, come on.
*socially awkward TH reader*
Have fun shareing gay porn then
To be blunt, they shouldn't have just done a directed ruling. The judge should have sent out a bailiff, gone to get this guy and have him appear in front of this court. That is what they do in criminal cases, they almost NEVER do a directed verdict or summary verdict.
For all they know, the guy ignored the court summons because he never got it, because they thought they had the wrong person, etc.
Reading is fundamental.... being a paid copyright lobby troll is not.
just an FYI with probably TMI:
Flava Works, Inc. headquartered in Miami, Florida, with a satellite office in Chicago, Illinois, is a company that produces gay media featuring black and Latino men.
Flava Works operates several websites offering pornographic images and videos to its patrons including Cocodorm.com, PapiCock.com, ThugBoy.com, CocoBoyz.com, and FlavaMen.com. Thugsforsex.com is an online dating portal for black and Latin men. It also features a chat room with video chat capabilities to its users. The CocoDorm is a live, interactive residence where models are hired to live together in a dorm-like environment. The Miami Herald described the operation as follows: "CocoDorm offers its young, muscular males $1,200 a month along with free room and board while requiring they masturbate and have group sex in front of [web] cameras."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flava_Works