S L O, PLC: Attorney For Plaintiff
S L O, PLC: Attorney For Plaintiff
S L O, PLC: Attorney For Plaintiff
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STEVENS LAW OFFICE, PLC Ryan J. Stevens (AZ Bar No. 026378) 309 N. Humphreys Street, Ste. 2 Flagstaff, Arizona 86001 Phone: (928) 226-0165 Fax: (928) 752-8111 [email protected] Attorney for Plaintiff IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA PATRICK COLLINS, INC., Case No. Plaintiff. v. JOHN DOES 1-54, Defendants. COMPLAINT AND DEMAND FOR TRIAL BY JURY
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Plaintiff, Patrick Collins, Inc., sues John Does 1-54, and alleges: Introduction 1. This matter arises under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, as
amended, 17 U.S.C. 101 et seq. (the Copyright Act). 2. Through this suit, Plaintiff alleges each Defendant is liable for: Direct copyright infringement in violation of 17 U.S.C. 106 and 501;
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and
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Jurisdiction And Venue 3. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28
U.S.C. 1331 (federal question); and 28 U.S.C. 1338 (patents, copyrights, trademarks and unfair competition). 4. As set forth on Exhibit A, each of the Defendants acts of copyright
physical address located within this District, and therefore this Court has personal jurisdiction over each Defendant because each Defendant committed the tortious conduct alleged in this Complaint in the State of Arizona, and (a) each Defendant resides in the State of Arizona, and/or (b) each Defendant has engaged in continuous and systematic business activity, or has contracted anywhere to supply goods or services in the State of Arizona. 5. Venue is proper in this District pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1391(b) and (c),
because: (i) a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claims occurred in this District; and, (ii) a Defendant resides (and therefore can be found) in this District and all of the Defendants reside in this State; additionally, venue is proper in this
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District pursuant 28 U.S.C. 1400(a) (venue for copyright cases) because each
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Defendant or each Defendants agent resides or may be found in this District. Parties 6. Plaintiff is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State
of California and has its principal place of business located at 8015 Deering Avenue,
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Chatsworth, California 91304. 7. 8. Each Defendant is known to Plaintiff only by an IP address. An IP address is a number that is assigned by an Internet Service Provider
(an ISP) to devices, such as computers, that are connected to the Internet. 9. The ISP to which each Defendant subscribes can correlate the Defendants
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IP address to the Defendants true identity. Joinder 10. Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 20(a)(2), each of the Defendants was properly
joined because, as set forth in more detail below, Plaintiff asserts that: (a) each of the Defendants is jointly and severally liable for the infringing activities of each of the other Defendants, and (b) the infringement complained of herein by each of the Defendants was part of a series of transactions, involving the exact same piece of Plaintiffs copyrighted Work, and was accomplished by the Defendants acting in concert with each other, and (c) there are common questions of law and fact; indeed, the claims against
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each of the Defendants are identical and each of the Defendants used the BitTorrent
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protocol to infringe Plaintiffs copyrighted Work. Factual Background I. 11. Plaintiff Owns the Copyright to a Motion Picture On or about May 26, 2011 Plaintiff submitted an application for Copyright
Registration (Service Request Number 1-603492749) for the motion picture titled Cuties 2 (the Work).
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other things, Plaintiffs ownership of the Work, application and the application date is attached as Exhibit B. II. 13. Defendants Used BitTorrent To Infringe Plaintiffs Copyright BitTorrent is one of the most common peer-to-peer file sharing protocols
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(in other words, set of computer rules) used for distributing large amounts of data; indeed, it has been estimated that users using the BitTorrent protocol on the internet account for over a quarter of all internet traffic. The creators and users of BitTorrent developed their own lexicon for use when talking about BitTorrent; a copy of the BitTorrent vocabulary list posted on www.Wikipedia.com is attached as Exhibit C. 14. The BitTorrent protocols popularity stems from its ability to distribute a
large file without creating a heavy load on the source computer and network. In short, to reduce the load on the source computer, rather than downloading a file from a single source computer (one computer directly connected to another), the BitTorrent protocol allows users to join a swarm of host computers to download and upload from each other simultaneously (one computer connected to numerous computers).
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A. 15. 16.
Each Defendant Installed a BitTorrent Client onto his or her Computer Each Defendant installed a BitTorrent Client onto his or her computer. A BitTorrent Client is a software program that implements the BitTorent
protocol. There are numerous such software programs including Torrent and Vuze,
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both of which can be directly downloaded from the internet. See www.utorrent.com and http://new.vuze-downloads.com/. 17. Once installed on a computer, the BitTorrent Client serves as the users
interface during the process of uploading and downloading data using the BitTorrent protocol.
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B. 18.
The Initial Seed, Torrent, Hash and Tracker A BitTorrent user that wants to upload a new file, known as an initial
seeder, starts by creating a torrent descriptor file using the Client he or she installed onto his or her computer. 19. The Client takes the target computer file, the initial seed, here the
copyrighted Work, and divides it into identically sized groups of bits known as pieces. 20. The Client then gives each one of the computer files pieces, in this case,
pieces of the copyrighted Work, a random and unique alphanumeric identifier known as
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21.
When another peer later receives a particular piece, the hash identifier for
that piece is compared to the hash identifier recorded in the torrent file for that piece to test that the piece is error-free. In this way, the hash identifier works like an electronic fingerprint to identify the source and origin of the piece and that the piece is authentic and uncorrupted. 22. Torrent files also have an announce section, which specifies the URL
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(suggested) names for the files, their lengths, the piece length used, and the hash identifier for each piece, all of which are used by Clients on peer computers to verify the integrity of the data they receive. 23. The tracker is a computer or set of computers that a torrent file specifies
and to which the torrent file provides peers with the URL address(es).
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24.
peer users computers that have particular pieces of the file, here the copyrighted Work, on them and facilitates the exchange of data among the computers. 25. Depending on the BitTorrent Client, a tracker can either be a dedicated
computer (centralized tracking) or each peer can act as a tracker (decentralized tracking). C. 26. Torrent Sites Torrent sites are websites that index torrent files that are currently being
made available for copying and distribution by people using the BitTorrent protocol. There are numerous torrent websites, including www.TorrentZap.com,
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27.
upload and download Plaintiffs copyrighted Work. D. 28. Uploading and Downloading a Work Through a BitTorrent Swarm Once the initial seeder has created a torrent and uploaded it onto one or
more torrent sites then other peers begin to download and upload the computer file to
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which the torrent is linked (here the copyrighted Work) using the BitTorrent protocol and BitTorrent Client that the peers installed on their computers. 29. The BitTorrent protocol causes the initial seeds computer to send different
pieces of the computer file, here the copyrighted Work, to the peers seeking to download the computer file.
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30.
Once a peer receives a piece of the computer file, here a piece of the
Copyrighted Work, it starts transmitting that piece to the other peers. 31. In this way, all of the peers and seeders are working together in what is
called a swarm. 32. Here, each Defendant peer member participated in the same swarm and
directly interacted and communicated with other members of that swarm through digital handshakes, the passing along of computer instructions, uploading and downloading, and by other types of transmissions. A print out of a computer screen illustrating the type of interactions between and among peers and seeders in a typical swarm is attached
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as Exhibit D.
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33.
In this way, and by way of example only, one initial seeder can create a
torrent that breaks a movie up into hundreds or thousands of pieces saved in the form of a computer file, like the Work here, upload the torrent onto a torrent site, and deliver a different piece of the copyrighted Work to each of the peers. The recipient peers then automatically begin delivering the piece they just received to the other peers in the same swarm.
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Once a peer, here a Defendant, has downloaded the full file, the BitTorrent
Client reassembles the pieces and the peer is able to view the movie. Also, once a peer has downloaded the full file, that peer becomes known as an additional seed because it continues to distribute the torrent file, here the copyrighted Work. E. Plaintiffs Computer Investigators Identified Each of the Defendants IP Addresses as Participants in a Swarm That Was Distributing Plaintiffs Copyrighted Work Plaintiff retained IPP, Limited (IPP) to identify the IP addresses that are
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being used by those people that are using the BitTorrent protocol and the internet to reproduce, distribute, display or perform Plaintiffs copyrighted works. 37. IPP used forensic software named INTERNATIONAL IPTRACKER
v1.2.1 and related technology enabling the scanning of peer-to-peer networks for the presence of infringing transactions. 38. IPP extracted the resulting data emanating from the investigation,
reviewed the evidence logs, and isolated the transactions and the IP addresses associated therewith for the file identified by the SHA-1 hash value of
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39.
The IP addresses, Unique Hash Number and hit dates contained on Exhibit
A accurately reflect what is contained in the evidence logs, and show: (A) Each Defendant had copied a piece of Plaintiffs copyrighted Work
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this District in order to transmit a full copy, or a portion thereof, of a digital media file
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identified by the Unique Hash Number. 41. IPPs agent analyzed each BitTorrent piece distributed by each IP
address listed on Exhibit A and verified that re-assemblage of the pieces using a BitTorrent Client results in a fully playable digital motion picture of the Work. 42. IPPs agent viewed the Work side-by-side with the digital media file that
correlates to the Unique Hash Number and determined that they were identical, strikingly similar or substantially similar. Miscellaneous 43. All conditions precedent to bringing this action have occurred or been
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waived. 44. Plaintiff retained counsel to represent it in this matter and is obligated to
pay said counsel a reasonable fee for its services. COUNT I Direct Infringement Against Does 1-54. 45. The allegations contained in paragraphs 1-44 are hereby re-alleged as if
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46.
Plaintiff is the owner of the Registration for the Work which contains an
original work of authorship. 47. By using the BitTorrent protocol and a BitTorrent Client and the processes
described above, each Defendant copied the constituent elements of the registered Work
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and 501; (C) Perform the copyrighted Work, in violation of 17 U.S.C. 106(4)
and 501, by showing the Works images in any sequence and/or by making the sounds accompanying the Work audible and transmitting said performance of the Work, by means of a device or process, to members of the public capable of receiving the display (as set forth in 17 U.S.C. 101s definitions of perform and publically perform); and
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(D)
and 501, by showing individual images of the Work nonsequentially and transmitting said display of the Work by means of a device or process to members of the public capable of receiving the display (as set forth in 17 U.S.C. 101s definition of publically display). 50. Each of the Defendants infringements was committed willfully within
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the meaning of 17 U.S.C. 504(c)(2). 51. Plaintiff has suffered actual damages that were proximately caused by each
of the Defendants including lost sales, price erosion and a diminution of the value of its copyright. WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully requests that the Court: (A) Permanently enjoin each Defendant and all other persons who are in active
concert or participation with each Defendant from continuing to infringe Plaintiffs copyrighted Work;
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(B)
Order that each Defendant delete and permanently remove the torrent file
relating to Plaintiffs copyrighted Work from each of the computers under each such Defendants possession, custody or control; (C) Order that each Defendant delete and permanently remove the copy of the
Work each Defendant has on the computers under Defendants possession, custody or control;
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(D)
Award Plaintiff either its actual damages and any additional profits of the
Defendant pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 504-(a)-(b); or statutory damages in the amount of $150,000 per Defendant pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 504-(a) and (c); (E) Award Plaintiff its reasonable attorneys fees and costs pursuant to 17
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(F) proper.
Grant Plaintiff any other and further relief this Court deems just and
COUNT II Contributory Infringement Against Does 1-54. 52. The allegations contained in paragraphs 1-44 are hereby re-alleged as if
fully set forth herein. 53. Plaintiff is the owner of the Registration for the Work which contains an
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By using the BitTorrent protocol and a BitTorrent Client and the processes
described above, each Defendant copied the constituent elements of the registered Work that are original. 55. By participating in the BitTorrent swarm with the other Defendants, each
Defendant induced, caused or materially contributed to the infringing conduct of each other Defendant. 56. Plaintiff did not authorize, permit or consent to Defendants inducing,
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57.
Each Defendant knew or should have known that other BitTorrent users,
here the other Defendants, would become members of a swarm with Defendant. 58. Each Defendant knew or should have known that other BitTorrent users in
a swarm with it, here the other Defendants, were directly infringing Plaintiffs copyrighted Work by copying constituent elements of the registered Work that are
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original. 59. Indeed, each Defendant directly participated in and therefore materially
contributed to each other Defendants infringing activities. 60. Each of the Defendants contributory infringements were committed
willfully within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. 504(c)(2). 61. Plaintiff has suffered actual damages that were proximately caused by each
of the Defendants including lost sales, price erosion, and a diminution of the value of its copyright.
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(A)
Permanently enjoin each Defendant and all other persons who are in active
concert or participation with each Defendant from continuing to infringe Plaintiffs copyrighted Work; (B) Order that each Defendant delete and permanently remove the torrent file
relating to Plaintiffs copyrighted Work from each of the computers under each such Defendants possession, custody or control;
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(C)
Order that each Defendant delete and permanently remove the copy of the
Work each Defendant has on the computers under Defendants possession, custody or control; (D) Find that each Defendant is jointly and severally liable for the direct
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(E)
Award Plaintiff either its actual damages and any additional profits made
by each Defendant pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 504-(a)-(b); or statutory damages in the amount of $150,000 per Defendant pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 504-(a) and (c); (F) Award Plaintiff its reasonable attorneys fees and costs pursuant to 17
U.S.C. 505; and (G) proper. DEMAND FOR A JURY TRIAL Grant Plaintiff any other and further relief this Court deems just and
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DATED this 15th day of August, 2011. Respectfully submitted, /s/ Ryan J. Stevens g Ryan J. Stevens AZ Bar No. 026378 STEVENS LAW OFFICE, PLC 309 N. Humphreys Street, Suite 2 Flagstaff, Arizona 86001 Telephone: (928) 226-0165 Facsimile: (928) 752-8111 Email: [email protected] Attorney for Plaintiff
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SHA-1 Hash: EE7B1E84B6FD741359D99A0397DF043842BAB4D7 Title: Cuties 2 Rights Owner: Patrick Collins, Inc.
DOE# IP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 24.251.234.79 24.251.53.13 24.251.9.176 24.251.92.89 68.0.139.90 68.0.166.136 68.0.184.223 68.104.151.47 68.109.172.249 68.109.180.218 68.2.228.247 68.225.198.107 68.226.124.132 68.231.153.172 68.98.33.70 70.162.10.125 70.162.18.190 70.162.183.180 70.162.207.192 70.176.107.248 70.176.114.98
Hit date (UTC) 6/22/2011 5:01 6/7/2011 8:55 5/19/2011 0:28 6/5/2011 23:39 5/23/2011 0:59 6/24/2011 11:11 6/15/2011 3:29 6/2/2011 11:32 6/15/2011 9:38 5/22/2011 15:45 6/28/2011 7:32 7/12/2011 7:24 6/20/2011 23:07 5/21/2011 2:30 6/20/2011 3:57 6/9/2011 20:29 6/19/2011 18:14 7/3/2011 4:56 5/31/2011 2:03 6/1/2011 11:02 5/19/2011 13:54
City Scottsdale Phoenix Goodyear Tempe Sierra Vista Sierra Vista Fort Huachuca Goodyear Mesa Phoenix Peoria Chandler Phoenix Surprise Tucson Tempe Tucson Sahuarita Peoria Goodyear Tempe
State ISP AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications
Network BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent
EXHIBIT A AZ2
DOE# IP 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 70.176.171.58 70.176.249.145 70.176.79.7 70.176.84.5 70.190.183.151 70.190.80.17 72.201.103.82 72.208.156.217 72.208.7.63 72.211.165.73 72.223.115.84 72.223.94.47 98.165.138.128 98.165.14.98 98.165.33.135 98.167.178.6 98.177.175.177 98.177.199.63 174.18.2.18 174.26.96.172 174.30.147.168 184.98.179.131 63.147.47.27
Hit date (UTC) 5/19/2011 17:00 7/15/2011 4:45 6/22/2011 2:31 5/30/2011 0:34 6/18/2011 10:52 5/25/2011 14:59 5/22/2011 10:07 5/18/2011 11:45 5/29/2011 7:43 6/8/2011 21:27 6/8/2011 21:37 5/25/2011 19:13 6/30/2011 3:31 6/22/2011 8:42 5/19/2011 0:02 5/22/2011 8:12 6/3/2011 3:34 7/3/2011 6:05 6/15/2011 16:40 6/6/2011 2:34 6/5/2011 2:12 5/29/2011 7:55 6/18/2011 1:21
City Surprise Chandler Tucson Glendale Tucson Mesa Goodyear Phoenix Tucson Avondale Mesa Mesa Phoenix Phoenix Scottsdale Tolleson Queen Creek Mesa Tucson Tempe Tucson Scottsdale Wellton
State ISP AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Cox Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications
Network BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent
EXHIBIT A AZ2
DOE# IP 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
Hit date (UTC) 5/20/2011 63.227.85.245 22:00 5/19/2011 63.230.195.148 19:35 5/30/2011 63.231.193.66 21:24 5/23/2011 71.209.193.90 17:07 6/11/2011 71.214.160.212 9:03 6/16/2011 71.223.178.202 3:18 5/25/2011 71.35.52.12 10:35 6/29/2011 71.35.55.245 21:36 6/15/2011 75.171.71.77 0:11 6/7/2011 97.124.56.167 6:08
City Tucson Phoenix Yuma Mesa Tucson Phoenix Phoenix Phoenix Phoenix Phoenix
State ISP AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ AZ Qwest Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications Qwest Communications
Network BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent BitTorrent
EXHIBIT A AZ2