Third Degree Films Lawsuit & Subpoena
Third Degree Films is a California based pornographic film studio founded in 2002 by Joey Wilson. In 2006, Third Degree Films began using a bonus Spanish language track on all DVDS to immerse themselves into the expanding Spanish-speaking demographic in the United States, Latin America, and beyond, and in 2007 the company signed with Hustler TV to provide content on new platforms in North and South America. Third Degree Films is another pornographic film company that began pursuing copyright infringement “settlement” lawsuits. The abusive and predatory litigation tactics employed by this “copyright troll” usually involve an attempt to exploit the use of the court’s subpoena power, and the negative association of the defendants, or “John Does,” being linked to pornography, to unfairly leverage improper “settlements” from Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) subscribers. Usually this blanket litigation tactic from copyright trolls unjustly targets the internet subscriber in the household or business, without further investigating who actually illegally downloaded the pornographic material. Unfortunately, the threat of pending litigation can be burdensome and costly, and innocent defendants tend to choose the “settlement” path. These defendants would rather not incur the ghastly expense of copyright litigation or face the potential embarrassment of fighting the case through various levels of the court system to hope to reach a fair judgment. Instead, they feed the troll” and “settle” for a few thousand dollars to make the case go away and spare their name. These shakedown tactics of blindly naming innocent defendants is predatory and misuse of the court system.
Similar to the trend in other “copyright troll” litigation, Third Degree Films will attempt to blindly shame the billing contact for each ISP address, relying on the fact of ensuing public humiliation with being tied to a pornography settlement. This shakedown tactic is unnecessarily predatory and usually results in the sometimes unfairly targeted and often innocent defendants in cooperating against their will or better judgement. Federal judges often write how these “copyright trolls” bring the threat of suit but never fully intend to litigate the claims they raise. Instead these “trolls” offer an outrageous “settlement” as bait that deters defendants from engaging in litigation to take the cheaper and quicker approach. Third Degree Films has the full capacity to bring these claims to trial to attempt to win a larger judgment, or publicly humiliate the owner as a pirate pornography downloader. Unfortunately, most defendants decide to “feed the trolls.”
If you have received a letter or email from your ISP regarding a Third Degree Films subpoena, have received a letter from Leemore Kushner with the Kushner Law Group, or have received a phone call from someone purporting to represent Third Degree Films about a lawsuit, please give The Pietz Law Firm a call. Having worked with many people in similar situations, we understand what you are going through and our firm is dedicated to helping you fight back to protect your rights. With a rich background and understanding of copyright infringement, we are experts in handling these types of predatory copyright cases. We have aided many clients in similar situations by successfully their dismissing their cases and by relieving much unnecessary stress. Also, please consult this article about your options in these BitTorrent lawsuits for further information regarding these copyright infringement suits.
