LOS ANGELES — Three adult entertainment companies filed 38 porn BitTorrent piracy lawsuits against 467 John Doe defendants in the past week.
The lion's share of lawsuits were initiated by Malibu Media, which owns copyrights to such softcore content as "Kat Translucense," "Megan Morning Bath," "Carlie Beautiful Blowjob" and "Kristen Girl Next Door."
Malibu Media filed 23 lawsuits in the past seven days at federal courts in New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania, fingering 411 unnamed defendants.
Elegant Angel filed six suits against 47 in New York and Maryland, and Third Degree Films filed one suit against nine in Pennsylvania.
The number of suits filed in the past week are remarkable, considering that in the previous week there were no porn BitTorrent piracy suits filed in the U.S.
Each of the suits claim infringement damages of up to the statutory maximum of $150,000 per Doe or named individuals.
Meanwhile, in other porn BitTorrent litigation news, one adult entertainment company has filed claims against a Southern California man who has other serious troubles — he's accused of fatally beating a transgender woman in her Oceanside home.
Tyree Davon Paschall, 28, is being held at a Vista, Calif., jail after pleading not guilty two weeks ago to charges of murder, fraud and petty theft. He has two prior convictions that carry strikes under the state's three-strikes law.
Paschall, a parolee, was targeted last year as a trader of Millennium TGA movies, specifically “Shemale Yum — Jenna Comes A’Knocking!” and “Shemale Pornstar: Vaniity.”
And Millennium TGA, the parent of Grooby Productions, filed suit earlier this month seeking $100,000 from Paschall.
"On information and belief, Mr. Paschall is the subject of an active investigation into the murder of a transgender individual," the lawsuit said.
The victim, Crain Conaway, 47, was found dead Jan. 21 in her Oceanside, Calif., home. Few details about the case have been released, except that Conaway was bludgeoned to death.
XBIZ publishes a weekly report each Friday on porn BitTorrent piracy filings in the U.S.