With the news that LimeWire is about to go down in flames, others have found courage to hope. The movie industry has also been battling piracy just as much as the RIAA and the newest and most ambitious entrant in to this foray is Voltage Pictures.
Voltage is the independent production company that responsible for the Oscar winning “Hurt Locker”. The company is going after no less than five thousand John Doe’s in a lawsuit. The names of the persons are not known yet as the company has only been able to collect the IP addresses of the pirates. They want all those who downloaded the movie to delete it from whatever storage mediums they have it on and also pay up actual or statutory damages to cover the expenses of the lawsuits.
The plan seems ambitious and does reek a little of bitterness and money grubbing. It is ambitious because even a massive organization like the RIAA has not been able to succeed in this area. The fact that the movie didn’t make more than 16 million dollars at the home box office also could be due to the movie being downloaded and distributed. The lawsuit could be a way of recovering some of the lost revenue, although it makes Voltage look a little desperate.
The company’s co-founder, Nicolas Chartier, is not bothered by the bad press that may be generated because of this lawsuit. In fact he seems to be quite happy to meet it and will probably find a way to use it to his own benefit.