from http://www.sun-sentinel.com
Adult film company sues South Floridians, alleging movies were illegally downloaded
By Jon Burstein
Attention, married men who illegally downloaded the movies "Bootylicious Girls" and "Brazilian Babes": There’s a chance you may have a really awkward conversation with your wife.
Adult entertainment company Elegant Angel filed a series of federal lawsuits last week against 58 "John Does" in South Florida who allegedly pirated its movies. Elegant Angel, based in Canoga Park, Calif., has the Internet addresses of the computers used to illegally download the movies and wants judges to allow it to subpoena the computer owners’ names through their Internet providers.
The lawsuits seek up to $150,000 in damages from each of the people accused of copyright infringement.
"I firmly believe that everyone has the right to protect their intellectual property," said M. Keith Lipscomb, one of the Miami attorneys for Elegant Angel. "Right now, the adult entertainment industry is being tremendously damaged by the infringement of its copyrights over the Internet."
The adult entertainment industry has become more aggressive within the last year in pursuing copyright cases. In many instances, film companies have filed lawsuits against dozens—even hundreds—of "John Does" at a time, accusing them of downloading videos using BitTorrent, a file-sharing program.