88% of All U.S. Copyright Trolling Cases Involve Porn, Study Says

88% of All U.S. Copyright Trolling Cases Involve Porn, Study Says

CHICAGO — Eighty-eight percent of all copyright-trolling cases in the U.S. in 2014 involved an adult entertainment film, according to a new study on intellectual property litigation.

The study, titled "Intellectual Property in U.S. District Courts: 1994-2014" and authored by Matthew Sag, a professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, also noted that one porn company — Malibu Media, aka X-art.com — accounted for 80 percent of all John Doe suits in 2014.

Sag’s report, just released yesterday, undertakes a broad-based empirical review of intellectual property litigation in federal district courts from 1994 to 2014.

It undertakes a systematic analysis of more than 190,000 individual case filings and examines the subject matter, geographical and temporal variation within federal IP litigation over the past two decades.

In the study, Sag said that the numbers of porn copyright infringement claims in the past four years have remained at a steady high rate.

“[A]lthough BitTorrent monetization has always been closely associated with pornography, the percentage of pornography in the John Doe category has varied from 70 percent in 2010, 93 percent in 2011, 85 percent in 2012, 69 percent in 2013 and most recently, 88 percent in 2014,” Sag wrote.

“I have criticized the Copyright Office for ignoring this phenomenon; however, in light of the 2014 data it is increasingly apparent that policymakers should be cautious about extrapolating from current trends in this context because the BitTorrent monetization era cases appear to be inherently idiosyncratic.

One measure of this idiosyncrasy, Sag said, was the extent to which litigation is driven by just a few porn companies that appear to be copyright trolls. Those trolls typically enforce copyrights it owns for purposes of making money through litigation, in a manner considered unduly aggressive or opportunistic.

“The trend from 2012 to 2014 is one of increasing concentration of plaintiff activity,” Sag wrote. “In fact, the pornography producer, Malibu Media is such a prolific litigant that in 2014 it was the plaintiff in over 41.5 percent of all copyright suits nationwide.

“John Doe litigation is not a general response to Internet piracy; it is a niche entrepreneurial activity in and of itself.”

When reached today, Sag told XBIZ that he thinks that Malibu Media, or X-art.com, has found a way to transform copyright infringement from a problem into an opportunity with big returns.

Sag said he believes Malibu Media could be making up to $10 million a year out of copyright infringement litigation alone.

“To some extent, they are taking advantage of a loophole in the law,” he told XBIZ. “Statutory damages were originally intended to provide relief for copyright owners whose actual loss was difficult to calculate and to serve as a deterrent.

“There is no doubt that Malibu Media is getting some compensation and perhaps even creating something of a deterrent, but their primary aim seems to be monetizing infringement as a separate profit center. That is not really want statute three damages were meant to do.”

Sag said that he’s heard stories of Malibu Media attorneys being “quite indifferent to evidence that they are going after the wrong people.”

“I think that misidentification is quite common when all you have to go on is an IP address, but that it's quite difficult for people accused of infringement to prove their innocence.” 

Nevertheless, Sag said that adult content creators should be entitled to copyright protection.

“My only issue with this type of litigation is that the statutory damages available are absurdly excessive and that some plaintiffs in Malibu Media's position have resorted to sleazy tactics designed to leverage the social embarrassment some people feel about pornography.

“Some judges have called this extortion, and it certainly comes close.”

View new intellectual property study

Related:  

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Tyler Wu Guests on Chaturbate's 'Sex Tales' Podcast

Tyler Wu is the latest guest on Chaturbate’s “Sex Tales” podcast, hosted by Melissa Stratton and Vanniall on the company’s “Camming Life” YouTube channel.

Fleshy to Launch Interactive Cam Site 'Eremote'

Male pleasure brand Fleshy has announced that it will launch an interactive, bidirectional cam site next month called Eremote.

XBIZ LA Show Introduces New 'Crib Crawl' Feature

XBIZ is pleased to announce that the 2025 edition of its flagship conference, the XBIZ Show, will debut a brand-new feature: Crib Crawl, offering attendees the chance to meet and greet representatives from leading brands and organizations in dedicated suites at the host venue.

Pre-Nominations Now Open for 2025 TEAs

The pre-nomination period for the 2025 Trans Erotica Awards (TEAs) is now open.

Byborg Invests $22.35M in PLBY Group

Luxembourg-based Byborg Enterprises SA is investing $22.35 million in Playboy parent company PLBY Group.

Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments on Texas AV Law in January

The United States Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for Free Speech Coalition's challenge to Texas’ age verification law to take place Wednesday, Jan. 15.

2025 XBIZ Exec Awards Nominees for Online Industry Announced

XBIZ is pleased to announce the nominees for the online industry edition of the 2025 XBIZ Exec Awards, set to be presented as part of the annual XBIZ Honors ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 15 in conjunction with the XBIZ 2025 conference.

Project 2025 Leader Claims Big Tech Companies 'Deliberately Fuel Pornography Addiction' Among Men

Heritage Foundation president and Project 2025 leader Kevin Roberts published on Wednesday the text of a speech in which he persists with his past claim that “predatory Big Tech corporations” are “deliberately fueling pornography addiction” among young men.

FSC Petitions 10th Circuit for Review of Utah AV Dismissal

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) on Wednesday petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit to review a decision handed down earlier this month by a three-judge panel of the same appeals court, which denied FSC the right to challenge Utah’s controversial age verification law by suing state officials.

MyAdultAttorney's Corey D. Silverstein to Hold Post-Election Legal Impact Webinar

Industry attorney Corey D. Silverstein will hold a “Legal Impact” webinar titled “We Have a New U.S. President: Legal and Community Implications” on Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. PST.

Show More