What’s the story?
In yet another step to protect their intellectual property, WWE has filed a lawsuit against users of the file sharing platform BitTorrent, in a US District Court this past Thursday.
The suit involved individuals who, according to the lawsuit, attempted to “unlawfully acquire, reproduce, and distribute” the WWE Studios’ 2016 film “Eliminators”.
In case you didn’t know...
BitTorrent is one of the more prominent peer-to-peer file sharing platforms online today. It allows users to download files from a multitude of other users (who are sharing it in a process known as “seeding”) rather than a centralised source – such as a server.
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While the usage of BitTorrent and similar programs is not illegal in the U.S., distributing and obtaining copywritten material is. In the past, WWE have made efforts to shut down live video streaming and unauthorised YouTube posts of their content.
The heart of the matter
This is the first time that WWE has gone after individuals in regards to copyright theft.
According to World Intellectual Property Review, The company used IP tracking software to find the IP addresses associated with the downloads, then verified that the material was on the individuals’ computers.
Also read: WWE News: Sasha Banks calls out Maybelline on gimmick infringement
Because of the nature of BitTorrent’s peer-to-peer system, this would allow WWE to charge individuals with both downloading the material and distributing it. It’s worth nothing that WWE is pursuing litigation against specific individuals and not any companies associated with BitTorrent.
What’s next?
WWE is currently seeking, according to WIPR, “actual damages, statutory damages of $150,000 per infringement, costs and jury trial.” No defendants have been named yet (the actual suit can be downloaded on the site) nor has a hearing date been set.
Author’s take
WWE is a company that lives and dies on its intellectual property. It’s interesting that they chose to go after downloads of one of their WWE Studios films as opposed to, say, one of their wrestling-related documentaries or copies of a PPV.
Either way, if you were considering downloading a copy of “See No Evil 2” anytime soon, you might want to reconsider.
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