SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Liberty Media Holdings LLC, parent company of gay adult studio Corbin Fisher, has received a second judgment against a defendant in a massive federal copyright-infringement lawsuit the company filed in December.
In an unopposed default judgment, the court ordered Pittsburgh resident Eric Brown to pay LMH $1.75 million in punitive damages for his part in what LMH has characterized as a DVD piracy conspiracy perpetrated through auction site eBay. The judgment, which held Brown liable for 70 counts of willful infringement, also included a permanent injunction against future content theft.
“In this case, Brown was caught not only making and selling pirated DVDs, but he was doing so by buying other pirated DVDs and making second-generation copies,” said Corbin Fisher General Counsel Marc Randazza.
Corbin Fisher Chief Operating Officer Brain Dunlap admitted LMH is unlikely to collect the full amount of the award.
“Our research shows that Mr. Brown lives in a house that Zillow estimates is worth $90,000,” he said. “With that kind of wealth, we don’t expect that he has $1.75 million lying around.”
However, according to Randazza, the company likely will see at least a partial payment.
“We did get a satisfactory payment from the prior defendant,” Randazza said. “And while we don’t expect to get $1.75 million from Mr. Brown, we do expect to extract something from him.”
In February, LMH received a $990,000 consent judgment against David Trice of Dallas, the only other individual specifically named among 51 eBay sellers included in the December lawsuit. Trice admitted to copying 66 Corbin Fisher videos without authorization. He and Brown were implicated during an in-house sting LMH set in motion last year following tips from Corbin Fisher customers who had encountered pirated DVDs on eBay.
“[Brown] may not have $1.75 million today, but whatever he has now we will take, as well as whatever he gets in the future,” Dunlap said.
Randazza indicated LMH will continue to pursue additional defendants as they are identified. The company has taken a strong stance against piracy, filing a number of lawsuits over the past year and receiving sizable judgments in several. Among the alleged pirates pursued by LMH was the tube site DudeVu, which went offline after LMH took legal action against it.
Randazza repeatedly has indicated content piracy is at the top of LMH’s hit list for the foreseeable future.
“This company supports 50-plus families, and when you steal Corbin Fisher content, you’re stealing from my family and the families of all of my co-workers,” he avowed in December. “I take that personally, and I won’t let someone off just because they whimper and cry that they don’t have any money. You did the crime, you pay—no exceptions. Take out a loan to pay me, but you’re paying me.”
