A federal judge in Florida has entered a default judgment against the well-known VPN provider LiquidVPN. The judgment comes in response to a lawsuit from a group of filmmakers.
We’re curious to hear your take on this lawsuit against LiquidVPN. Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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As reported by TorrentFreak, the lawsuit alleges several copyright infringement activities. These include the “encouragement” of Popcorn Time.
Popcorn Time is a streaming app that has faced scrutiny for illegally hosting content. It then provides this content to the public.
The lawsuit asserts that the VPN provider, both directly and indirectly, infringes on their copyright. They claim this happens by promoting this service:
The LiquidVPN Defendants describe their VPN service as a tool to ‘Watch Popcorn Time without being detected by your ISP and P2P tracking software’. They also promote it as a tool that can be used to pirate copyright protected content ‘without the risk of getting caught by your ISP or anyone else.
Some of the movies impacted include popular titles. These are movies like Hellboy, Dallas Buyer’s Club, Angel Has Fallen, and Hunter Killer.
This isn’t the first instance of a VPN company facing legal action from film companies.
Recently, VPN.ht was also accused of promoting the Popcorn Time application. A court ordered them to block torrent sites as a result.
Perhaps the most significant aspect is that VPN.ht was ordered to log and store customers’ IP addresses. This applies specifically to customers connecting to a server in the US.
VPN.ht Reaches Agreement to Block Torrent Sites & Log User Data
LiquidVPN Court Order
Much like VPN.ht, LiquidVPN has also received a court order. In this case, it was a default judgment.
The company failed to respond to the lawsuit. Consequently, the prosecution requested the court to issue a default judgment.
This request was initially denied. However, Florida Judge Beth Bloom has now granted the default judgment for several of the demands.
This ruling includes the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 per title. This amounts to a total of nearly $10 million.
Furthermore, LiquidVPN is required to pay nearly $5 million for violating the DMCA. This violation stems from altering copyright management information.
Judge Bloom outlined her decision in the permanent injunction:
LiquidVPN Defendants have no safe harbor from liability. This is because they fail to implement a policy for terminating repeat infringers. Additionally, they have not registered a DMCA agent with the Copyright office.
You can review the complete default judgment linked below:
LiquidVPN Final Judgment & Permanent Injunction
Moreover, the court awarded the Hawaiian law firm 42 Ventures $250,000 in damages for trademark infringement.
42 Ventures owns the trademark for the Popcorn Time logo. They successfully argued that LiquidVPN used the logo without their permission.
What are your thoughts on the court’s decision to grant a default judgment against LiquidVPN? Share your opinion in the comments section below.
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!
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